LIBRARY OF COf^GRESS. 



(|]^ji duipifig^t '^a. 

Shelf. ..„Iiib 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




LEO XIII. 



CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; 



— OR, — 



TESTIMONIES 

— OF — 

DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 



-BV^ 



JAMES J. TREACY, 

Editor of '* Catholic Flowers from Protestant Gardens'' " Tributes 

of Protesta7it Writers to the Truth and Beauty 

of Catholicity'' Etc, 



OUR HOLY FATHER, POPE LEO XHL, has been graciously pleased 
to^ impart his Apostolic Benediction, for the second time, to the Author of 
this Book. His Holiness has also deigned to honor Mr. Treacy with the 
present of an exquisitely executed CAMEO, representing St. Joseph and 
the Infant Saviour, the work of a dLstinguished Roman Artist. 



FR. PUSTET, 

Printer to the Holy See and the S. Congregation of 

FR. PUSTET & CO., 

New York and Cincinnati. 




H< 



•oxosiHSfA 



S^HOHOO 



40 \ , A 



6' 



x^st»i^±^y^^(,^ 



— TO — 



John Gilmae^y Shea, LL.D. 



— THE — 



DISTINGUISHED HISTOPvIAN OF THE CATHOLIC CHUUCH IN AMERICA; 



— THE — 



Fearless and Able Defender of Her Fame and Glory Against the 
Shafts of Ignorance, Mlsrepresentaiion, and Malevolence ^ 



f ^is gook is Inscribtir, 



WITH THE RESPECT AND ESTEEM OF 

The Editor. 



PREFACE. 



The centuried history of the Church is a 
history of grand, glorious, and marvellous 
Conquests. With the Banner of the Cross 
gleaming before her, and the Torch of Truth 
shining in her hand, she marches through the 
ages, a real, though unbloody conqueror. On 
and on she moves, spreading around her joy, 
peace, and unity, — advancing civilization — en- 
couraging and embellishing art — taming and 
even refining the savage children of the forest 
— directing and helping Science — purifying and 
elevating the standard of human morality, and 
lifting fallen men from earth to heaven. Now 
she is bathed in the blood — the holy blood — 
of her martyrs ; now she is refulgent with the 
light — the beautiful and sacred light — of her 
virgins and scholars. In almost every land, 
from the rising to the setting of the sun, the 
red storms of persecution have swept over her, 
again and again, only to find her coming out of 
the conflict — coming out of the fiery furnace — 
coming down from her Cross — unstained, un- 



VI PREFACE. 

weakened, unconquered, — mightier, brighter, 
purer, holier. The Ten Persecutions utterly 
failed to subdue her. The Csesars — the proud 
and haughty Caesars — fell powerless at her ap- 
proach, or, in the person of Constantine the 
Great, bowed humbly and lovingly before her 
august presence. The heresiarchs, from Simon 
Magus to Martin Luther — Her enemies from 
Luther's time till now — have always felt in 
their souls that her origin was Divine, that her 
mission was Divine, that her teaching was 
Divine. Scoffers and mockers, and false pro- 
phets, — Pantheists, Materialists, and Atheists, 
— all, all the unfortunate children of error, may 
speak and write as they will, but the Roman 
Church — One, Holy, Catholic, and Apos- 
tolic — guided and protected by the Spirit of 
Truth — blessed by the i-iglit hand of the God 
of all Power and Majesty — remains, and will 
ever remain, undefiled, unchangeable, united, 
and ever victorious. Amidst the clianges and 
crumbling of dynasties — amirl tlie dismember- 
ment of empires — amid the destruction of na- 
tions — her triumphant song of victory has 
never for an instant been hushed, the loud and 
solemn ring of her exultant Te Deum has 
never been silenced ! 



PREFACE, VU 

Not to refer to the early stages of her mir- 
aculous march, when many of the greatest phil- 
osophers, artists, poets, and orators of Pagan 
Rome and classic Greece acknowledged that 
Truth, and Beauty, and Inspiration were hers, 
what must we think of her triumphs for the last 
three hundred years ? Has she gained no 
new Conquest^ I Has the sway of her sceptre 
been lessened I Has the number of her children 
diminished? Have the glory, the purity, the 
majesty of her Apostolic Youth departed, 
or even paled ? 

Answer these questions, O Newman of 
the deep but crystal intellect — answer them, 
thou Sage, whose pen has been touched with 
celestial fire — answer them, thou, who, Samson- 
like, couldst tear down the pillars of a false and 
haughty temple ! Answer them, Manning, 
thou fearless champion of every just cause ! 
Answer them, Faber, thou delight and inspira- 
tion of pure and holy souls ! Answer them, 
O Parsons, from the depths of thy prison-cells 
or from the sacred heights of thy Novice-Home 
on the classic banks of the Dyle ! Answer 
them, De Vere, thou chastest of chaste poets ! 
Answer them. Hay, Digby, Dalgairns, Chal- 
loner, Marshall ! Answer them, Schlegel, thou 



Vlll PREFACE. 

poet, critic, philosopher — answer them, thou 
glory of European Literature ! Answer them, 
O iStolberg, De Haller, Hurter, Papin, Latour, 
Brunswick, Ratisbonne ! Answer them, Lucas, 
Ward, Brownson — ye dauntless and mighty 
crusaders of the Catholic Press ! Answer them, 
Ives, and Hecker, and Stone, and Hewit, Pres- 
ton and Doane ! Answer them, ye favored 
millions who, in every age and clime, having 
been led by the Spirit of God out of the cold- 
ness, and uncertainty, and darkness of error 
and heresy, found rest, and light, and peace, 
and joy in the bosom of the Roman Catholic 
Church, 



CONTENTS. 



The Church the Champion of the People 1 

Trials of a Mind 11 

Catholic Ireland 22 

Recantation of the Rev. Paul Latour 27 

The Convert 30 

God's Existence Proved by the Heathen Philosophers . . 33 

The Conversion of Ida, Countess Hahn Hahn 46 

The Revival of Catholicism in Germany 50 

The See of Peter 55 

Letter of M. Charles Lewis de Haller 61 

Christian Mother 69 

The Conversion of Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne 73 

Characteristics of the Church 81 

St. Augustine 84 

Christian Art 89 

The Feast of Corpus Christi in Catholic Europe 95 

Letter of the Rev. M. Laval 105 

The Cogency of the Visible Church 110 

The Dominican Order 119 

Conversion of Hermann Cohen 126 

Letter of Mrs. Elizabeth Bayley Seton to the Abbe Chev- 

erus 133 

The Church in Scotland 136 

The Catholic Pilgrim 145 

The Bureaucratic State 148 

The Church and the Bible 151 

The Religious History of England 154 

The Establishment of the Old Law 169 



X CONTENTS. 

The Happiness of being a Catholic 178 

The Relief of Vienna 180 

The Eternal City 199 

The Attitude of the World Towards the Church 202 

Letter of Natalie Narischkin to the Countess Lebzeltern. . 207 

The Light of Faith 210 

Duties of a Christian Mother 215 

The Origin and Necessity of Law 221 

Breathing the Spirit of God 228 

The Spiritual and Secular Power 230 

Plain Scriptures ; Or the Scripture Doctrine of the Church 

and its Perpetual Visibility and Infallibility 234 

The Convent of the Helpers of Holy Souls at Zi-ka-wei, 

China 248 

Letter of David Richard to Monseigneur R^ss, Bishop of 

Strasbourg 254 

Franciscan Order 262 

Reason 266 

The Spirit of Jansenism 272 

Letter of the Rev. Daniel Barber 279 

The Principal Heresies of the Twelfth Century 282 

The Love of God in Creation 287 

Letter of the Dutchess of York on her Conversion to the Cath- 
olic Faith 293 

The Memorials of Catholicity in England 299 

The Reverend Father, Prince Gallitzin 303 

Philosophes and Autocrats 310 

Anglican Orders , 316 

Edward the Confessor 322 

Letter of Frederick Emmanuel Hurter 328 

Unity of the Church 338 

Christian Resignation. 342 

The Supreme Dominion of God 348 

Church-of-Englandism 356 

Shadows of the Cross _ 361 

Letter of the Rev. Lord Charles Thynne 365 



CONTENTS. XI 

The Influence of Catholicism on the Intellectual Faculties. 370 

The Case of Galileo 374 

Infallibility 391 

The Conversion of the Venerable Abb^ Libermann 398 

The Re-establishment of the Religious Institutions in 

France 406 

The Devotion to the Blessed Virgin in the Early Ages of the 

Church 410 

The Huguenots 417 

The Law of God 421 

Conversion of the Duke of Brunswick 425 

The Beneficent Influences of the Catholic Religion 429 

Protestant Translations of the Holy Bible 437 

The Happiness of a True Christian, , 445 

Conversion of Hugh Lsemmer 452 

Conversion of the Reverend Father, Count Gregory Schouva- 

loff. 457 

Missionary Triumphs of the Catholic Church 465 



INDEX TO NAMES OF AUTHORS, ETC. 

— ^ 

Addis and Aknold — 

Franciscan Order 262 

Agnew, Miss — 

Edward the Confessor 322 

Allies, Commendatore Thomas William — 

The See of St Peter 55 

Barber, Rey. Daniel — 

Letter 279 

BowYER, Sir George — 

The Origin and Necessity of Law 221 

Browne, Edward George Kirwan — 

Breathing the Spirit of God 228 

Brownson, Dr. Orestes Augustus — 

The Church the Champion of the People 1 

Brunswick, Anthony Ulrich, Duke of — 

Conversion 425 

Burnett, Hon. P. H. — 

The Convert 30 

BussiiJRES, Baron Theodore De — 

Conversion of Marie- Alphonse Ratisbonne 73 

Capes, J. M.— 

Influence of Catholicism on the Intellectual Faculties. 370 
Challoner, Eight Rey. and Venerable Richard — 

Plain Scriptures ; Or the Scripture Doctrine of the Church, 

and its Perpetual Visibility and Infallibility 234 

Clare, Sister Mary Francis — 

Duties of a Christian Mother 215 

xiii 



XIV INDEX TO NAMP:s OF AUTHORS, ETC. 

Cohen, Hermann — 

Conversion. 126 

Coleridge, Rev. Henry James, S. J. — 

The Law of God 421 

Dalgairns, Rev. John Bernard — 

The Spirit of Jansenism 272 

DiGBY, Kenelm H. — 

The Beneficent Influences of the Catholic Religion, .. 429 
DoANE, Rt. Rev. Monstgnor G. H. — 

The Happiness of being a Catholic 178 

Drane, Augusta Theodosia — 

The Relief of Vienna 180 

Dryden, John — 

The Huguenots 417 

Faber, Rev. Frederick William — 

The Feast of Corpus Christi in Catholic Europe 95 

FoRMBY, Rev. Henry — 

The Eternal City 199 

FULLERTON, LaDY GeORGIANA — 

The Convent of the Helpers of Holy Souls at Zi-ka-wei, 

China 248 

Hahn Hahn, Ida, Countess — 

Her Conversion 46 

Haller, M. Charles Lewis d:e — 

Letter 61 

Hay, Right Rev. George — 

The Supreme Dominion of God 348 

Hecker, Very Rev. I. T. — 

Reason 266 

Herbert, Lady — 

Christian Mother 69 

Hewit, Rev. Augustine F. — 

St. Augustine 84 



INDEX TO NAMES OF AUTHORS, ETC. XV 

HovEN, H. A. Des Amrie Va.n der — 

The Church and the Bible 151 

HuRTER, Frederick Emmanuel — 

Letter . 328 

Ives, Dr. L. Silliman — 

Trials of a Mind 11 

Jarcke, Dr. Charles Ernest — 

The Bureaucratic State , , , . , 148 

Knox, Key. Thomas Francis — 

Infallibility 391 

Ljemmer, Hugh — 

Conversion 452 

Latour, Rev. Paul — 

Recantation 27 

Laval, Rev. M. — 

Letter 105 

Libermann, Venerable Francis Mary Paul — 

Conversion 398 

Lilly, William Samuel — 

Philosophes and Autocrats 310 

Lindsay, Hon. Colin — 

Catholic Ireland 22 

Lucas, Frederick — 

The Catholic Pilgrim 145 

MACLEOD, Rev. Xavier Donald — 

The Reverend Father, Prince Gallitzin 303 

Manning, Cardinal — 

The Church in Scotland 136 

Marshall, T. W. M. — 

Missionary Triumphs of the Catholic Church 465 

Marshall, Arthur F. — 

Anglican Orders 316 



XVI INDEX TO NAMES OF AUTHORS, ETC. 

Narischkin, Natalie — 

Letter 207 

Newman, Cardinal — 

The Religious History of England 154 

NoRTHCOTE, Very Rev. Provost J. Spencer — 

The Devotion to the Blessed Virgin in the Early Ages of 

the Church 410 

Oakeley, Very Rev. Frederick Canon — 

The Love of God in Creation 287 

Papin, Monsieur — 

Characteristics of the Church 81 

Parsons, Rev. Robert, S. J. — 

God's Existence Proved by the Heathen Philosophers. 33 
Phillips, Dr. George — 

The Spiritual and Secular Power 230 

Preston, Right Rev. Monsignor T. S. — 

Unity of the Church 338 

PuGiN, A. Welby — 

The Memorials of Catholicity in England 299 

Ramsey, Chevalier dk — 

The Establishment of the Old Law 169 

Ratisbonne, M. L'Abbe— 

Principal Heresies of the Twelfth Century. 282 

Richard, David — 

Letter 254 

Robertson, Professor James Burton — 

Revival of Catholicism in Germany 50 

ScHT.EGEL, Frederick Yon — 

Christian Art .... 89 

ScHouvALOFP, The Reverend, Father Count Gregory — 

Letter 457 

Seton, Mrs. Elizabeth Bayley — 

Letter 133 



INDEX TO NAMES OF AUTHORS, ETC. XVll 

Starr, Elza Allen — 

The Dominican Order 119 

Stolberg, Frederick-Leopold Count Yon — 

The Happiness of a True Christian 445 

Stone, Rey. James Kent — 

Attitude of the World Towards the Church 202 

Swetchine, Madame — 

Christian Resignation 342 

Thompson, Edward Healy — 

The Cogency of the Visible Church 110 

Thynne, Rev. Lord Charles — 

Letter 365 

Veith, Dr. Frederick Emmanuel — 

The Light of Faith. 210 

Vere, Aubrey de — 

Re -establishment of the Religious Institutions in 

France 406 

Ward, Dr. William George — 

The Case of Galileo 374 

Ward, Thomas — 

Protestant Translations of the Holy Bible 437 

White, Rey. Alexander — 

Church-of-Englandism 356 

WiLBERFORCE, HeNRY WiLLIAM 

Shadows of the Cross 361 

YoiiK, Dutchess of — 

Letter 293 



THE CHUKCH THE CHAMPION OF 
THE PEOPLE. 



In the temporal order, tlie authority claimed 
by the Church is nothing but the assertion over 
the state of the Divine sovereignty, which she 
represents, or the subjection of the prince to 
the Law of God, in his character of prince as 
well as in his character of man. That the prince 
or the civil power is subject to the law of God, 
no man who admits Christianity at all dares 
question; and, if the Church be the Divinely 
commissioned teacher and guardian of that law, 
as she certainly is, the same subjection to her 
must be conceded. But this, instead of being 
opposed to civil liberty, is its only possible con- 
dition. Civil liberty, like all liberty, is in 
being held to no obedience but obedience to 
God; and obedience to the state can be com- 
patible with liberty only on the condition that 
God commands it, or on the condition that he 
governs in the state, which he does not and 
cannot do, unless the state holds from his law 



2 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OE, 

and is subject to it To deny, then, tlie supre- 
macy of the Church in temporals, is only to 
release the temporal order from its subjection 
to the Divine sovereignty, which, so far as re- 
gards the state, is to deny its authority, or its 
right to govern, and, so far as regards the sub- 
ject, is to assert pure, unmitigated civil despot- 
ism. All authoi'ity divested of the Divine 
sanction is despotic, because it is authority with- 
out right, will unregulated by reason, power 
disjoined from Justice. Withdraw the supremacy 
of the Church from the temporal order, and you 
deprive the state of that sanction, by assertion 
that it does not hold from God and is not 
amenable to His law ; you give the state simply 
a human basis, and have in it only a human 
authority, which has no right to govern, which 
I am not bound to obey, and which it is in- 
tolerable tyranny to compel me to obey. "Let 
every soul," says the blessed Apostle Paul, the 
Doctor of the Gentiles, ^'be subject to the higher 
powers ; for there is no power but from God, 
and those that are, are ordained of God. There- 
fore he that resisteth the power, resisteth the 

ordinance of God. Wherefore be subject 

of necessity, not only for wrath, but also for con= 
science' sake." (Rom. iii. 1-5). Here the obli- 



TESTIMOI^IES OF DISTHSTGUISHED CONVERTS. 6 

gation of obedience is grounded on the fact tliat 
tlie civil power is the ordinance of God^ that is, 
as we say, holds from God. But, obviously, this, 
while it subjects the subject to the state, equally 
subjects the state to the Divine sovereignty. 
Take away the subjection of the state to God, 
and you take away the reason of the subjection 
of the subject to the state; and we need not tell 
you that to subject us to an authority which we 
are not bound to obey is tyranny. See, then, 
what you get by denying the supremacy of the 
Church in temporals ! 

The Church and the state, as administrations, 
are distinct bodies ; but they are not, as some 
modern politicians would persuade us, two co- 
ordinate and mutually independent authorities, 
The state holds under the law of nature, and 
has authority only within the limits of that law, 
as long as it confines itself within that law, 
and faithfully executes its provisions, it acts 
freely, without ecclesiastical restraint or inter- 
ference. But the Church holds from God under 
the supernatural or revealed law, which includes, 
as integral in itself, the law of nature, and is 
therefore the teacher and guardian of the natural 
as well as the revealed law. She is, under God, 
the supreme judge of both laws, which for her 



4 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

are but one law; and hence she takes cogni2:ance, 
in her tribunals, of the breaches of the natural 
law as well as of the revealed, and has the right 
to take cognizance of its breaches by nations 
as well as its breaches by individuals, by 
the prince as well as by the subject, for it is 
the supreme law for both. The state is, there- 
fore, only an inferior court, bound to receive the 
law from the supreme court, and liable to have 
its decisions reversed on appeal. 

This must be asserted, if we assert the supre- 
macy of the Christian law, and hold the Church 
to be its teacher and judge ; for no man will 
deny that Christianity includes the natural as 
well as the supernatural law. Who, with any 
just conceptions, or any conceptions at all, of 
the Christian religion, will pretend that one can 
fulfil the Christian law and yet violate the 
natural law? — that one is a good Christian if he 
keeps the precepts of the Church, though he 
break every precept of the Decalogue ? — or that 
Christianity remits the catechumen to the state 
to learn the law of nature, or what we may term 
natural morality? Grace presupposes nature. 
The supernatural ordinances of God's law pre- 
supposes the natural, and the Church, which is 
the teacher and guardian of faith and morals, 



TESTIMO]SnES OF DISTINGUISHED COJ^VERTS. 5 

can no more be so without plenary authority 
with regard to the latter than the former. Who, 
again, dares pretend that the moral law is not 
as obligatory on emperors, kings, princes, and 
commonwealths, as upon private individuals ? — 
upon politicians as upon priests or simple be- 
lievers? Unless, then, you exempt the state 
from all obligation, even to the law of nature, 
you must make it amenable to the moral law as 
expounded by the Church, divinely commis- 
sioned to teach and declare it. 

Deny this, and assert the independence of the 
political order, and declare the state in its own 
right, without accountability to the Christian 
law, of which it is not the teacher or the guard- 
ian, supreme in temporals, and you gain, instead 
of civil liberty, simply, in principle at least, civil 
despotism. If you deny that the Church is the 
teacher and guardian of the law of God, you 
must either claim the authority you deny her 
for the state, or you must deny it altogether. 
If you claim it for the state, you, on your own 
principles, make the state a spiritual despotism, 
and on ours also ; for the state obviously has 
not received that authority, is incompetent in 
spirituals, is no teacher of morals, or director of 
consciences. If you deny it altogether, you 



6 CONQUESTS OF OUR HoLY FAITH; OR^ 

make the state independent of the moral order, 
independent of the Divine sovereignty, the only 
real sovereignty, and establish pure, unmitigated 
civil despotism. 

We know how hateful this doctrine is to poli- 
ticians, to the world, and to the devil, who seek 
always to find a rival in the state to the kingdom 
of God. We know that the representatives of 
the state in nearly all ages of Christendom, in 
nearly all nations, have resisted it. We know 
that it is now resisted by every civil government 
on earth, that the kings of the earth stand up, 
the princes conspire together, the nations rage, 
and the people imagine vain things, against the 
Lord and his Christ, saying : ^^ Let us break their 
bonds asunder, let us cast away their yoke from 
us ; '' but we cannot help that. We know the 
truth, and dare assert it ; we know the rights 
of God, and dare not betray them. We cannot 
be false, because others are, — shrink from pro- 
claiming the supremacy of the moral order, 
because now more than ever it is necessary to 
proclaim it. We do not understand the heroism 
that goes always with the popular party, or the 
loyalty that deserts to the enemy the moment 
his forces appear to be the most numerous. We 
know the moral order is supreme, and shall we 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 7 

fear to say it, lest sinners tremble, the wicked 
gTiash their teeth, and the multitude threaten ? 
We know our Churcli is God's Church ; that she 
is the judge of God's law, and has the right to 
denounce, as from the judgment-seat of the Al- 
mighty, whoever violates it, and to place king 
or peasant under her anathema, if he refuses to 
obey it. She has the right, the divine right, 
to denounce moral wrong, spiritual wrongs 
tyranny and oppression, wheresoever or by 
whomsoever they are practised, and to vindi- 
cate the rights of God, and, in so doing, tlie 
rights of man, let who will threaten and in- 
vade them. We are subject to God, but to 
him only ; and are we afraid to assert the fact? 
Are we not free before all men I 

The Churcli is the Divinely appointed guard- 
ian of truth, virtue, and liberty, because she is the 
representative of the Divine sovereignty on 
earth. Kings and potentates, commonwealths 
and mobs, may rise up, as they have risen up, 
against her; politicians may murmur or de- 
nounce, the timid may quake, the faint-tearted 
may fail, the cowardly shrink away, and the 
disloyal join her persecutors; but that can 
neither justify them, iior unmake her rights, nor 



8 COIS^QUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

depose lier from lier sovereignty under God^ — 
cannot make it not true that she represents the 
moral order, and that the moral order is supreme. 
That supremacy is a fact in God's universe, an 
eternal and primal truth ; and let no man dare 
deny it, who would not be branded on his fore- 
head traitor to God, and therefore to man ; and 
let him who fears to assert it in the hour of 
thickest danger be branded poltroon. It is the 
glory of the Church that she has ahvays asserted 
it. She asserted it in the noble answer of her 
inspired Apostles to the magistrates, — "We must 
obey God rather than man ;" she asserted it in 
her glorious army of martyrs, who chose rather 
to die at the stake, in the amphitheatre, under the 
most cruel and lingering tortures, than to offer 
incense to Jupiter or the statue of Caesar; she 
asserted it by the mouth of Ambrose, Arch- 
bishop of Milan, when he forbade the emperor 
Theodosius the Great to enter the Church till 
he had done public penance for his tyrannical 
treatment of his subjects, and drove him from 
the sanctuary, and bade him take his place with 
the laity, where he belonged ; she asserted it in 
the person of her sovereign Pontiff, St. Gregory 
the Seventh, when he made the tyrant and 
brutal Henry the Fourth, of Germany, wait for 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONYEKTS, 9 

three days shivering Avitli cold and hunger at 
his door, before he would grant him absolution, 
and when he finally smote him with the sword 
of Peter and Paul for his violation of his oaths, 
his wars against religion, and his oppression of 
his subjects ; and she asserted it, again, in the 
person of her glorious Pontifi*, Gregory the Six- 
teenth, w^ho, standing with one foot in the grave, 
confronted the tyrant of the North, and made 
the Autocrat of all the Russias tremble and 
weep as a child. Never for one moment has she 
ceased to assert it in the face of crowned and 
uncrowned heads, — Jew, Pagan, Arian, Bar- 
barian, Saracen, Protestant, Infidel, Monarchist, 
Aristocrat, Democrat: and gloriously is she 
asserting it now in her noble confessor, the 
Bishop of Lausanne and Geneva, and in her 
exiled Pontiff, Pius the Ninth, 

You talk of religious liberty. Know you 
what the word means ? Know ye that religious 
liberty is all and entire in the supremacy of the 
moral order ? The Church is a spiritual des- 
potism, is she? Bold blasphemer, miserable 
apologist for tyrants and tyranny, go trace her 
track through eighteen hundred years, and be- 
hold it marked with the blood of her free and 
noble-hearted children, whom God loves and 



10 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH. 

honors, shed in defense of religious liberty. 
From the first moment of her existence has she 
fought, ay,f ought as no oth^r power can fight, for 
liberty of religion. Every land has been red- 
dened with the blood and whitened with the 
bones of her martyrs, in that sacred cause ; and 
now, rash upstart, you dare in the face of day 
proclaim her the friend of despotism ! Alas I 
my brother, may God forgive you, for you know 
not what you do. 

De. Orestes Augustus Brownsois^, 

£Jssays and Meviews, 



TEIALS OF A MIND. 



Dear Brethren and Frieisds : 

It is due both to you and myself, as it is 
more especially to the cause of God, that I yield, 
without loss of time, to the promptings of my 
heart and conscience, and lay before you, as 
best I can, the reasons which have constrained 
me to take so serious, and to many dear ones as 
well as to myself, so trying a step as that of 
abandoning the position in which I had acted 
as a Minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
for more than thirty years, and as a bishop of 
the same for more than twenty years^ and of 
seeking, at my time of life, admission as a mere 
layman into the " Holy Catholic Church," and 
wdth no prospect before me but simply peace of 
conscience and the salvation of my soul. 

That for many years I have been more or less 
doubtful of my position as a Protestant^ and 
feeling about me for some surer ground on 
which to stand, in view of a judgment to come, 
is a matter too much interwoven in the history 



12 COIS^QUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OE, 

of the last few years of my Episcopate to be, in 
any important respect, new to you. That in 
this state of baffling uncertainty, and under the 
trying circumstances it brought w^ith it, I al- 
ways acted wisely, or with perfect consistency, 
is more than I dare either affirm or believe. 
Rather would I turn from the too generally 
worse than useless task of self-defense^ and 
humbly seek refuge in the compassion of Him 
" Who hath borne our infirmities,'^ and in the 
forbearance of those w^ho have themselves felt 
the w^eight of these infirmities, in a doubtful 
but earnest struggle to find and keep the narrow 
way of life. To the mariner, inured to the 
peculiar hardships of the sea, it wall be no cause 
of w^onder that one tossed upon the bosom of 
its treacherous waves, now toiling amid conflict- 
ing elements, and then distracted and deceived 
by shifting mists, should, in making his way to 
the shore, describe a somewhat devious track. 
Should any of my old friends and companions 
require of me still further explanation of seem- 
ing inconsistencies, they will find it in too great 
an efibrt on my part to remain a Protestant 
Here, commending myself to Him who will one 
day ^^make the justice of the oppressed clear as 
the light," I take final leave of the subject of 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 13 

self apology^ and invite you at once to a con- 
sideration of the history of my mind in its pro- 
gress to Catholicism, 

In the outset, let me recall the fact that for 
years a mysterious influence, which I could 
neither fully comprehend nor entirely throw off, 
visited my mind, unsettling its peace, and fill- 
ing it with yearnings for something in religion 
more real than I had hitherto experienced. 

Under such impulses, my thoughts were 
naturally led beyond the narrow limits of mere 
Protestant theology to the teachings of the 
early Catholic Fathers, and such as seemed to 
be based upon them in later times. At this 
period Moeliler^s Symbolism was put into my 
hand. I read it, examined its statements with 
care, and laid it down with an increased desire 
to know more fully the system of which it had 
given me, in a spirit of such fairness and love, 
so beautiful an outline. 

Now it was, however, that the progress of my 
inquiry received a sudden check. Prostrating 
sickness came, and with it a succession of dis- 
tracting and embarrassing oppositions to my 
discovered tendency towards Catholicism. 

And here I must be allowed, in all honesty, 
and I trust with no violation of charity, to say 



14 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

that these oppositions, which were designed and 
at first seemed likely to arrest this tendency, 
operated in the end greatly to increase it, by in- 
creasing my distrust in the system under which 
I was acting, as they tended to open my eyes 
more widely to what I felt to be its unreason- 
aUeness. 

In the first place, I observed that every at- 
tempt to understand and rightly appreciate 
Catholic truth was viewed by Protestants with 
jealousy, and treated with harshness. That 
while they prided themselves upon the untram- 
melled exercise of reason in matters of faith, the 
first effort on the part of any of their adherents 
to apply this reason in good earnest to an ex- 
amination of Catholic doctrine, or Catholic 
institutions, was instantly met by a cry of alarm. 
'' This practice is highly dangerous. Depend 
upon it, it will unsettle your faith, wean you 
from your own Church, and give you a leaning 
towards Catholicism. There is something in 
this so insidious and captivating, that, if you 
once allow it to get the least hold of your mind 
and heart, it is sure to bring you under its do- 
minion." And if the practice was not forthwith 
relinquished, they would seek to interpose an 
effectual bar by loading it with suspicion, and 



TESTTVIOlSriES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 15 

exciting against it the 23opular indignation, thus 
often forcing persons who might not have nerve 
for the sake of truth and peace, to face deser- 
tion, ignominy, and perhaps starvation, to stifle 
their convictions, compromise their consciences, 
and consent, for a time at least, to stumble on 
amidst the obscurities and miseries of an uncer- 
tain faith. This struck me as being so incon- 
sistent with the Protestant principle, that a free 
and thorough application of each mind to the 
great question ^' What is truth V^ is essential to 
its solution, as to lead me to suspect more 
reasonableness and force in Catholic teaching 
than my education and position had hitherto 
permitted me to see ; for I could not well con- 
ceive how, on such a vital question as that be- 
tween Catholics and Protestants, any practice 
which might contribute to the fullest investiga- 
tion should be '^ dangerous '' to anything but 
error. If the mind be capable of investigation 
at all, it must be, I thought, to the fullest ex- 
tent. At any rate, it would be exceeding- 
Iv unfair to oblis^e it to come to a conclusion, 
or to abide in one, without being allowed an 
opportunity to examine both sides of the ques- 
tion, the consideration of which might be neces- 
sary to render that conclusion safe. Hence I 



16 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

began seriously to fear that tlie '^ danger" ap- 
prehended from a thorough knowledge of 
Catholic teacliing was not so much danger to 
the truth of God as to the system of Protestant- 
ism. 

But the circumstance which at this period 
shook my coniidence most of all was the ab- 
sence, in my view, of any instituted method 
among Protestants for the remission of post- 
baptismal sin. Sins before baptism were ex- 
pressly forgiven in that sacrament. But for the 
remission of those committed after, however 
deadly, I could see in Protestantism no provi- 
sion : That Christ left Power in His Church to 
remit these I had no doubt, and for a time after 
my mind had become alive to the importance 
of the exercise of this po\ver, I believed that it 
existed and might be lawfully exercised in the 
communion of which I w^as a bishop. But upon 
stricter examination and more mature thought 
I became convinced that if the exercise of such 
power was not actually denied, its exercise, ex- 
cept in a very modified sense and within very 
restricted limits, was virtually prohibited. This 
discovery filled me with dread, which daily ob- 
servation increased, till finally it passed into 
absolute consternation. No one w^ho has not 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTI^S-GUISHED CONVERTS. 1 7 

been in my state can fully appreciate my sensa- 
tions, wlien I opened my eyes to tlie fact that 
multitudes around me entrusted to my care, were 
goaded by a conviction of mortal sin and demand- 
ing relief, and Iivas not allowed by my Ctiurch 
to administer that relief in the only way which 
seemed to me to be directed by God's word as 
understood by His early Church. The ques- 
tion now forced itself upon me : Can that be an 
institution of God which thus locks up the gifts 
(supposing it to have received them,) which He 
commands His priesthood to dispense to the needy 
and jierishing souls for whom Christ died? 

This state of doubt and fear awakened in my 
mind the inquiry, why should I not more tho- 
roughly examine the ground on which I stood, 
and on which were based my hopes of eternal 
salvation ? 

When I seriously approached this question, 
however, it was terrible to me. No man can well 
conceive the horror with which I first con- 
templated the possibility of a conviction against 
my own claims as the result! My claims as a 
bishop, a minister, a Christian in any safe sense; 
and hence of my being compelled as an honest 
man to give up my position. A horror enhanc- 
ed by the self-humilation with which I saw such 



18 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

a step must cover me, the absolute deprivation of 
all mere temporal support which it must occasion, 
not only to myself, but to one whom I was bound 
^^to love and cherish until death.'^ The heart- 
rending distress and mortification in which it 
must involve, without their consent, a large circle 
of the dearest relatives and friends, the utter an- 
nihilation of all that confidence and hope which 
under common struggles and common sufferings, 
for what we deemed the truth, had been reposed 
in me as a sincere and trustworthy bishop. But 
I forbear. Enough that the prospect, heightened 
in its repulsiveness by the sad forebodings around 
me at the renewed symptoms of my wavering, 
was so confounding, as actually to make me de- 
bate, whether it were not better, and my duty, to 
stay and risk the salvation of my soul, — as to 
make me supplicate in agony to be spared so 
bitter a chalice, to make me seize, with the eager- 
ness of a drowning man, upon every possible 
pretext for relinquishing the inquiry. Could I 
not be sincere where I was? Work with a quiet 
conscience where Providence had placed me? 
Were not the fathers of the Eeformation, in case 
of my being in error, to be held responsible? 
Would it not be presumption in me, a single 
bishop, to reconsider other points long considered 



TESTIMOOTES OF DISTIXaUISHED CONVERTS. 19 

settled by a national Cliurcli? These and more 
like questions would force themselves daily upon 
my mind to deter my advance; and under their 
influence I actually went so far as to commit 
myself publicly to Protestantism, to make such 
advance the more difiicult. But God was merci- 
ful, and all this did not satisfy me. I thought I 
saw in it clearly the temptation of Satan, an 
effort of my overburdened heart to escape self- 
sacrifice, I felt that if for such reasons I could 
be excused, so might Saul of Tarsus have been. 
His example of self-negation for Christ came 
frequently before me. His words, as the Apostle 
of Christ, sounded often in my ears; ^Tf any man 
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in 
the flesh, I more — circumcised the eighth day, of 
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an 
Hebrew of the Hebrews, according to the Law a 
Pharisee—concerning zedil persecuting the Church. 
Touching the justice which is in the law blame- 
less. But what things were gain to me, the same 
I counted loss for Christ. Yea, furthermore, / 
count all things hut loss for the excellent hnoivU 
edge of Christ Jesus^ my Lor d^ for whoin I have 
suffered the loss of all tilings^ and do count them 
hut dung J that I may win Christ. * ^ * ^ We 
^XQ fools for Christ's sake. * * * And if any man 



20 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

among you seemeth to be wise in this world^ let 
him became a fool that lie may be wise. ^ ^ * * 
We axe made a spectacle to tlie world — are weak 
and despised — are naked and buflfeted, and have 
no certain dwelling-place, — labor, working with 
our hands — are reviled and persecuted, and de- 
famed; yea, are made as the filth of the world 
unto this day." These words often sounded in 
my ears, with those encouraging ones too: "I 
reckon that the sufferings of the present time are 
not worthy to be compared w^ith the glory that 
shall be revealed. For if we suffer with Christy 
we shall also reign with Him, We suffer with 
Him that we may be glorified together." And 
I felt warmed and strengthened from above, to 
let nothing below turn me from a faithful search 
into the will of God. Other and still more 
solemn words, too, would come to deepen and 
fix this impression — words from the lips, the 
bosom, of eternal Charity: '^He that would be 
my disciple, must deny himself, take up his cross 
and follow me. He that forsaketh not all that 
he hath cannot be my discij)le. He that saveth 
his life shall lose it; but he that loseth his life 
for my sake shall keep it unto life eternal." Yea, 
and those awful words, too, which, in the mouth 
of the holy Ignatius, changed the proud and 



TESTLMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED COJN^YERTS. 21 

self-indulgent thoughts of the youthful nobleman 
into the penitential sighs and angelic aspirations 
of the self-denying and wonder-working St. 
Francis: — ^'What shall it profit a man, if he gain 
the whole world and lose his own soul? '^ 

Now it was that I cast myself, body and soul, 
powers, honors, and emoluments, all that I was, 
all that I Tiad^ before the cross of Christ, entreat- 
ing Him to take all, and lead me to the truths 
lead me to Himself^ vowing, in the depth of my 
soul, that if He would in mercy show me the 
way, and uphold my footsteps, I would follow 
Him whithersoeyer He would lead! 

I will not say what it cost me to make this 
surrender. But one thing I will say, the sacrifice 
has been repaid ten thousand fold in the blessings 
of present peace, and in the certain hopes of 
eternal life. 

De. L. Silli3ia]^ Iyes, 

The Trials of a Mind in its Progress 
to Catholicism, 



CATHOLIC lEELAND. 



Before England was born into the family of 
nations, Ireland was an autonomy, recognized as 
such by contemporary races. When Albion was 
inhabited by a barbarous and savage people, 
Ireland was in the height of prosperity. When 
the Anglo-Saxons were tearing each other to 
pieces, Ireland was possessed of a settled govern- 
ment, and was administered by wise laws, so 
ancient, that no one knows precisely the period 
of their first promulgation. When this country 
was remarkable for its ignorance and brutality, 
Ireland was celebrated for her culture and civili- 
zation. When St. Augustine was preaching to 
the heathen, when Ethelbert was receiving bap- 
tism, when Alfred was a wanderer, Ireland was 
sending forth her missionaries all over the world, 
spreading everywhere the Gospel and civilization. 
When the foundations of the Universities of 
Cambridge and Oxford were laid, the Colleges 
of Ireland had long been flourishing seats of 
learning, imparting to all who came to her schools 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTIIS^GUISHED CONVERTS. 23 

knowledge and truth. Ireland can assert, what 
no other existing kingdom or state can say, that 
her history is lost in the mazes of antiquity, and 
that her era of barbarism belongs to pre-historic 
times. 

About the eighth century the troubles of 
Ireland began, by the invasion of the Danes, and 
the subsequent wars that raged within the Island. 
Taking advantage of this state of things, the 
Norman English invaded Ireland under Henry 
II., and annexed it as part of his dominions. 

It would appear that after so much early pros- 
perity Ireland was to enter the school of suffer- 
ing, in order that, by severe trial, she might be- 
come again the great witness for Truth, whea 
darkness should once more cover the earth. 

The dark hour is approaching, the twilight of 
civilization is long passed, and the midnight of 
Satanic barbarism is at hand, under the evil in- 
fluence of which many shall fall to rise no more. 
The boasted civilization of this latter half of the 
nineteenth century is a delusion; it is barbarism 
veiled by a cloud illuminated by a light the source 
of which is neither in heaven nor in the Church. 
When men care no longer for truth for its own 
sake, then a shadow has fallen upon the soul. 
When people in high places regard the truth and 



24 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

untruth as a matter of indifFerence, darkness has 
enveloped the soul, so that it can no longer dis- 
tinguish between right and wrong. When scep- 
ticism and infidelity have taken hold of the mind, 
then indeed has the light become darkness. And 
when indifference to the dictates of the moral 
law, when impurity and sensuality are openly 
tolerated by society, then the conscience has 
become seared ; and when murder, — brutal mur- 
der and infanticide — flagrant dishonesty in busi- 
ness, and the first principles of socialism 
and communism prevail, then the era of bar- 
barism has indeed commenced. 

Let England look to herself, and reform her 
ways before it is too late. The cloud is upon 
her now; it is even ready to burst, and to pour 
down upon her calamities too appalling for 
adequate expression. I am not prophesying, I 
am only stating that which every thinker knows, 
but does not dare plainly to express. In England 
faith is gone, morality at a very low point, and 
crime in the ascendant. Of all the nations con- 
stituting the British Empire, there is one, and 
only one, wherein the Luminary of Faith and 
Truth, notwithstanding all the suffering inflicted 
upon that poor oppressed land, still shines re- 
splendent, and wherein the silver light of per- 



TESTI]VIO]sriES OF DISTIJS^GUISHED CONVERTS, 25 

sonal and domestic purity still glitters with un- 
sullied excellence and glory. 

In Ireland you see a people true to their faith, 
holy in their lives, and virtuous in their conduct. 
From whence these fruits ? Not from the Refor- 
mation, not from the late Established Church, 
not from the Dissenters, but from the Catholic 
Church, to which, notwithstanding the iron 
policy of persecuting England, she has remained 
true and faithful even unto death. Ireland, re- 
nowned in her ancient history, glorious during 
centuries of suffering, has without doubt a 
splendid future. She has not decayed by time, 
nor has she been demoralized by suif ering ; she 
is like the Church, still young and vigorous, 
possessing within her a soul which no human 
power caQ break. Even now she has a vast 
moral empire, for her people are spreading 
everywhere, carrying with them their religion, 
their morality, and their virtues. 

She is furnishing witnesses of the Truth of 
God in every city of England and Scotland, in 
the great cities of American and Australian civi- 
lization, and even on the Continent she is not 
unrepresented. When the apostacy of Europe 
is consummated, the children of St. Patrick will 
be lights shining in dark places, cheering the 



26 CONQUESTS OF OUE HOLY FAITH. 

faithful remnants, encouraging the disconsolate, 
attracting to themselves the weary wayfarer and 
the benio:hted traveller, who had for a lono; time 
lost themselves in the labyrinths of doubt and 
unbelief, struggling in the mire of abomination 
and wickedness. It seems, then, that in these 
last days, Ireland and the Irish are the people 
especially chosen by God to fight the good fight 
of Faith against the infernal powers of hell ; 
and let them take courao;e with the thouo;ht that 
their fidelity to the Faith is a pledge of their 
future glory, and that their patience in the 
school of suffering, through which they have 
now nearly passed, has been their earthly purga- 
tory, to fit them for the work for which Ireland 
seems destined by Almighty God. 

The Hon. Colin Lindsay, 

De Eccleda et Cathedra. 



EECANTATION 
OF THE EEV. PAUL LATOUR 



I, the undersigned, declare in the face of 
heaven and earth, that having had the misfor- 
tune of being born of Protestant parents, I have 
professed, till this day, the doctrine of Calvin; 
but having applied myself, for many years, to 
examine the doctrine of the Catholic, Apostolic 
and Roman Church, I have at length discovered 
that it is the only Church that taught the truth ; 
that it is the only vessel which can brave and 
survive the tempest; and ^the rock' against 
which errors and lies shall ever beat in vain. 
Therefore, dreading lest I should be surprised 
by death, without, perhaps, the power of making 
a public abjuration of my errors ; a duty which 
I owe to Grod and His Church ; encouraged like- 
wise by the edifying example of my worthy and 
respectable acquaintance, M. Dambois de Lar- 
boux ; strengthened by the sentiments and mo- 
tives so eloquently expressed in M. Charles Louis 
de Haller's letter to his family ; moved by the 



28 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

grace of tlie Hol}^ Ghost, who has triumphed at 
last over the difficulties and obstacles which I 
had the misfortune of throwing in His way, I 
feel myself obliged to publish, without further 
delay, a declaration of my sentiments, which I 
have written in the full enjoyment of my in- 
tellectual and moral faculties. 

I therefore declare, that I embrace, to the full 
extent of my mind and soul, all the doctrines 
of the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman 
Church ; I abjure forever the errors of Calvin, 
of Luther, and of all other Heresiarchs, whose 
perverse doctrines have spread throughout the 
world, the seed of error, of rebellion and anar- 
chy, I embrace the Holy Truth of this infallible 
Church, always pure and undefiled, which my 
forefathers had the misfortune to abandon, I 
sincerely confess my errors to Almighty God, 
and hope to find pardon in the bosom of His 
unspeakable mercy. 

I invite and beseech all my relations, friends, 
and all those who, by my instrumentality have 
been, and still are in error, to follow my ex- 
ample. 

With the highest respect, I address the pres- 
ent declaration to the Most Rev. Clermont 
Tonnerre, Archbishop of Toulouse, supplicating 



testi;j:oxies of distinguished conyekts. 29 

him to permit me to make, as soon as possible, 
a full, a solemn abjuration : I trust that in his 
benevolent charity, zeal and virtue, he will grant 
me this favor, and receive me into the commun- 
ion of that Church, in the bosom of which I 
wish to live and die, as the most humble of her 
children. 

To express my true sentiments, I adhere, and 
submit my mind and body, to the decision of the 
Council of Trent, and am ready to sign, in its 
full extent, the Profession of Faith which it has 
offered to the world. 

Signed at Montague, District of Mas-d'Asil, 
(Arriege,) 1st Sept., 1822. 

Paul Latour. 



THE CONVERT, 



He has embraced a higher grade of faith, has 
been brought into closer and holier communion 
with the unseen world, and has adopted a more 
just and charitable estimate of human veracity. 
He has taken a step towards the Celestial City, 
from the low, murky valleys of discord, where 
the fogs of error do love to dwell. He shakes 
hands with the brethren of every kind, name, 
and tongue. He w^orships with the people of 
every nation. He Joins his prayers with those 
who speak the varied languages of earth. On 
every shore, in every land, beneath every sky, 
and in every city, he meets brethren of the uni- 
versal Church. He is at home everywhere, and 
bows dow^n with the millions who have wor- 
shiped, and still worship, at the same altar, 
and hold the same faith. 

This is not all. He traverses the records of 
all history, and goes back, link after link, by an 
indubitable chain, to the apostolic day. He has 
no chasms to leap, no deserts to cross. At 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 31 

every step in this progress he finds the same 
old Church, — the same faith — the same worship 
still pre-eminent in the Christian world. He sees 
the rise and fall of empires and sects; but the 
same old Church always pre-eminent. The re- 
cords of the past are with him. He has the 
sanction of antiquity. Time tells for him a 
glorious story. He meets with myriads of 
brethren all along the slumbering ages. The 
old martyrs and saints are his brethren. He 
claims companionship with them. Their memo- 
ries are beloved by him. 

And Blandina, the poor slave^ but noblest of 
martyrs, was his sister. And Ignatius, and 
Polycarp, and Justin, and Irenaeus, are also his 
brethren. And she, the humblest of the humble, 
the purest of the pure — the stainless V^irgin 
Mother of his Lord^ whom all generations call 
^^ blessed,'' is revered by him as the noblest of 
creatures. And the Apostles — the noble and 
the true — the holy and the just — the despised 
and persecuted — they, too, are his brethren. In 
short, the saints and martyrs of the olden time 
held the same faith, worshipped at the same 
altar, and used the same form of worship as he 
does. He loves and venerates their memory, 
admires their virtues, calls them brethren, and 



32 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

asks their prayers in heaven. He has no accu- 
sations to bring against them — no crimes to lay 
to their charge. 

Besides all this, his faith is sustained by a 
logical power, and a Scriptural proof, that can- 
not be fairly met and confuted. It is sustained 
by every plain and luminous principle upon 
which society and government are founded. 
His reason, his common sense, the best feelings 
of his nature, the holiest impulses of his heart, 
all satisfy him beyond doubt, that he is right. 

"When all the blandishments of life are gone — 
When tired dissimulation drops her mask, 
And real and apparent are the same ; '* 

when eternity, with all its mighty consequences, 
rolls up its endless proportions before the dying 
vision — ah! then, no Catholic asks to change 
his faith ! Oh ! give me the last sacraments of 
the Church ! Let me die in her holy communion ! 
Let me be buried in consecrated ground ! Let 
my brethren pray for me ! 

The Hon, P. H. Burnett, 
The Path ivhich Led a Protestant Lawyer 
into the Church. 



GOD'S EXISTENCE PROVED 
BY THE HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS. 



The natural philosopher, among the Gentiles, 
had infinite arguments to prove by the creatures 
that there was a God: but he reduced all to 
three principal and general heads, which are 
termed ex Motu^ ex Finej et ex Causa efficiente : 
that is, arguments drawn from the motion, from 
the end, and from the cause efficient of creatures 
that we behold. 

The argument of motion stands upon this 
general ground in philosophy : that whatsoever 
is moved, is moved by another. "Wherein also 
is observed, that in the motions of creatures 
there is a subordination of the one to the other. 
As, for example, (i) these inferior bodies upon 
the earth are moved and turned by the air and 
other elements ; and the elements are moved by 
the influence and motion of the moon, sun, and 
other heavenly bodies ; these planets are moved 

(ij Arist. I, 7, and 8 Phys. 



34 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

by an impulse from the highest orb or sphere 
of all, that is called the first movable^ above 
which we can go no further among creatures. 

Now, then, the philosopher asks here, who 
moves this first movable ? If you say that it 
moves itself, it is against our former principle, 
that no thing is moved in nature but by another. 
And if you say that some other thing moves it, 
then is the question again, who moves that other? 
and so from one to another, until you come to 
something that moves, and is not moved by 
another; and that must be God, who is above 
all nature. 

This was a common argument with Plato, (2) 
and Aristotle, (3) and all of the philosophers. 
And they thought it a demonstration unavoid- 
able, and it seems they were admonished of the 
argument by considering the motion of a clock, 
whose hammer, when it strikes, shows the next 
wheel whereby it is moved; and that wheel 
shows another wheel; and so from one to 
another, until you come to that which was the 
first cause of motion to all the wheels, and that 
is the clock-maker himself. 



(2) Plato I, 10, de leigh. 

(3) Arist. 1,5, Phys. c. 5. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 35 

Aristotle, (4) to King Alexander, uses this 
pretty similitude; that, as in the choir of sing- 
ers, when the foreman has given the first tone 
or note, there ensues presently a sweet harmony 
and concert of all the other voices, both great 
and small, sharp and grave ; so God, in the 
creation of this world, having given once the 
first motion to the highest heaven, called 
Frimitm Mobile^ there ensue upon the same all 
other motions of heavens, planets, elements, 
and other bodies, in most admirable order, con- 
cord, and congruity, for conservation and gov- 
ernment of the whole. And thus is Grod 
proved by the argument of motion. 

The other two arguments, of the end, and of 
the cause efficient of creatureSj are made evident, 
in a certain manner, by this that has been spoken 
of motion. For seeing by experience that 
everything brought forth in nature has a pecu- 
liar end appointed, whereto it is directed by the 
self-same nature (as we see the bird is directed 
to build her nest by nature, the fox to make his 
den, and so the like in all other creatures) ; the 
philosopher asks here, what thing is that which 
directs nature herself, seeing each thing must 



(4) Arist. lib. de mundo. 



36 COIS-QUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

have somewhat to direct it to its end ? and no 
answer can be made, but that the director of nat- 
ure must be something above nature, and that is 
God himself. This argument of the final end 
is most excellently handled by Philo Judaeus, 
(5) in his most learned treatise — of the work- 
manship of the world. 

From the cause efficient the philosopher dis- 
putes tiuis: (6) It is evident by all reason, in 
respect of the corruptions, alterations, and per- 
petual motions of all creatures, that this world 
had a beginning ; and all excellent philosophers 
that ever were have agreed thereupon, except 
Aristotle, (7) who for a time inclined to main- 
tain that the world had no beginning, but was 
from all eternity ; though at last, (8) in his old 
age, he confessed the contrary, in his book to 
King Alexander. 

' This, then, being so, that this world had a 
beginning, it must needs follow, also, that it had 
an efficient cause. Now, then, is the question, 
who is that effi^cient cause that made the world ? 
if you say that it made itself, it is absurd ; for 



(5) Philo de opificio mundi. 

(6) Vide Plutarch, de Placitis Philos. 

(7) Arist. I, 8, Phys. and I de Gen. and Corrup. 

(8) Arist. I, de mundo; and vide Plotin. i, de mundo. 



TESTIMOJS^IES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 37 

how could it have power to make itself before 
it was, and before it had any being at all? if 
you say that something within the world, that 
is, some part of the world, made the whole^, 
this is more absurd ? for it is as if a man should 
say that the finger, and this before it was a 
finger or part of the body^ did make the whole 
body. 

Wherefore we must confess, by the force of 
this argument, that a greater and more excellent 
thing than is the whole world put together, or 
any part thereof, made the world, and was the 
cause efficient which we see ; and this can be 
nothing else but God, that is above the world. 
So that hereby we see in liow many ways the 
natural philosopher is provided with arguments 
to prove that there is a God, and that by reason 
only, without all light and assistance of faith. 

But the metaphysician or supernatural phi- 
losopher among the Gentiles, as he to whom it 
appertained more particularly to handle these 
high and supernatural affairs, had many more 
arguments and demonstrations, to prove and 
convince the being of one God. 

And first of all he said, that it could not stand 
with any possibility in his science, that ens 
finitunij a thing finite, or closed w^ithin bounds 



38 COISTQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

or limits, as this world, and every creature there- 
in iSj could be, but from some Maker or Creator. 
For, says lie, the thing that in itself is not in- 
finite has its bounds and limits; and conse- 
quently there must be something that assigned 
these bounds and limits; and seeing in this 
world there is no creature so great, which has 
not bounds and limits, we must of necessity 
imagine some infinite supreme Creator or Maker 
that limited these creatures, even as we see that 
the potter at his pleasure gives bounds and 
limits to the pot he frames. 

Now, then, says the metaphysician, we see by 
experience, that all the creatures and parts of 
the world are tilings hy ijarticipation only^ be- 
cause they are finite in nature, and have limita- 
tions in all their perfections, and may receive 
additions to the same ; and consequently they 
must of necessity be referred to some higher 
cause, that is infinite in perfection, and exists 
of itself alone, without participation from others; 
and this is God, who, being absolute, endless, 
and without limitation of perfection in 
Himself, communicates from His own incompre- 
hensible infiniteness certain limited natures 
and perfections to every creature, which per- 
fections in creatures are nothing else but little 



TESTIMOISriES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS, 39 

particles and participations of the bottomless 
sea of perfections in the Creator, whereunto 
they are to be referred and reduced, as the beam 
to the sun, and the brook to the fountain. 

The metaphysician uses a second argument, 
grounded upon certain rules of unity, whereof 
one principle is, that every multitude or dis- 
tinction of things proceeds from some unity, as 
from a fountain. This he shows from many ex- 
amples of things in this world ; for we see by 
experience that the divers motions or moving 
of the lower spheres, or celestial bodies, do pro- 
ceed from the moving of one highest sphere, 
and are to be referred to the same as their foun- 
tain. M^ny rivers are reduced to one well or 
spring; innumerable beams to one sun; all the 
boughs of a tree to one stock. 

In the body of Man, which for its beauty 
and variety is called the little world, the veins, 
which are without number, have all one begin- 
ning in the liver ; the arteries in the heart, the 
sinews in the brain; and that which is more, 
the infinite actions of life, sense, and reason in 
man, as generations, corruptions, nourishments, 
digestions, and alterations, feeling, smelling, 
tasting, seeing, hearing, moving, speaking, think- 
ing, remembering, discoursing, and ten hundred 



40 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

thousand particular actions, operations and mo- 
tions besides, which are exercised in man's body 
under these or other such names and appella- 
tions; all these, I say, being infinite in number, 
most admirable in order, and distinct in every 
one of their offices and operations, do receive, 
notwithstanding^, their beg^innino^ from one most 
simple unity, and indivisible substance, called 
the soul, which produces, governs, and directs 
them all to so innumerable, different and con- 
trary functions. 

By this, concludes the metaphysician, that 
among creatures we find this most excellent 
order and connection of things, whereby one 
brings forth many ; and every multitude is re- 
ferred to its unity ; so much more, in all reason, 
must the whole frame of creatures contained in 
this world, w^herein there are so many millions 
of multitudes with their unities, be referred to 
one most simple and abstract unity, that gave 
beginning to them all, and that is God. 

A third argument used by the metaphysician 
is derived from the subordination of creatures 
in this world ; which subordination is such, and 
so wonderful, that we see that no creature is by 
nature designed to serve itself alone, but also 
others, and all together conspire in serving the 



TESTIMOISTES OF DISTIIS-GUISHED CONYEETS. 41 

whole creation. We see the heavens move 
about continually without ceasing ; and this not 
to serve themselves but inferior creatures less 
excellent than themselves. We see that water 
moistens the ground ; the air cools, opens and 
cherishes the same ; the sun heats and quickens 
it; the moon and stars pour forth their influence; 
the winds refresh it ; and all this not for them- 
selves, but for others. The earth again, that 
receives their services, uses not the same for 
herself, or for her own commodity, but to bring 
forth grass wherewith to feed cattle ; and they 
feed not for themselves, but to give nourish- 
ment unto man. 

The fourth reason or argument alleged by the 
supernatural philosopher is from the marvel- 
lous providence, art, and wisdom discovered in 
the making of even the least creature within 
the world. For, seeing there is nothing- so 
little, nothing so base or contemptible within 
the compass of this heaven that covers us, but 
if you consider it, you find both art, order, pro- 
portion, beauty and excellency in the same : 
this cannot proceed from chance, as foolish 
Lucretius and some others would have it ; for 
that chance is casually without order, rule, or 
certainty, and therefore it needs must come 



42 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

from the wisdom and providence of some om- 
nipotent Creator. 

If you take a fly, or a leaf from a tree, or any 
other the least creature that is extant in this 
world, and consider the same attentively, you 
will find more miracles than parts therein ; you 
wall find such proportion of members, such va- 
riety of colors, such distinction of oflfices, such 
correspondence of instruments ; and those so fit, 
so well framed, so coherent, so ordinate, that 
the more you contemplate, the more you will 
marvel. Neither is there any one thing in the 
world more effectual to draw a man to the love 
and admiration of his Creator, than to exercise 
himself often in these contemplations, for if his 
heart be not of stone this will move his affec- 
tions. 

We read of Galen (i), a profane and very 
irreligious physician, that, as himself confesses 
in a certain place, taking upon him to consider 
the parts of man's body, and finding much wis- 
dom in the order, use and disposition of the: 
same, he sought first to give the praise and 
glory thereof to nature, or to some other cause 
than to God. But in process of time, being 



(i) Galen, 1,5, de usu part. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTENGUISHED CONVERTS. 43 

oppressed, as it were, with the exceeding great 
wisdom, proportion and providence which he 
discovered in every least parcel and particle of 
man's body, wherein nothing was redundant, 
nothing defective, nothing possible to be added, 
altered, or better devised, he broke forth into 
tliese words: (2) " Compono hie profecto canti- 
cum in creatoris nostri Imiclem^ quod iiltro res 
suas ornare voluit, melkts quain in idla arte pos- 
sent.^^ '' Here truly do I make a song in praise 
of our Creator, for that, of His own accord, it 
has pleased him to adorn and beautify His 
things better than by any art possible it could 
be imamned." 

Hereby, then, does the metaphysician gather 
and conclude most evidently that there is a God, 
a Creator, a most wise and powerful artificer, 
that made all things ; such a one as exceeds all 
bounds of nature, and of human abiHty. For 
if all the world should join together, they could 
not make the least creature which we see in this 
world. He concludes, also, that the foresight 
and providence of this Creator is infinite, for 
things to come in all eternity ; and, finally, that 
His wisdom and cogitations are inscrutable. 



(2) Lib, 3, de usu part. 



44 COiS^QUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

And though sometimes He reveals to us part 
thereof, yet often agaiu we err therein. For 
which cause a wdse heathen Platonic concludes 
thus, after a long search about these affairs : 

(3) ^^I will praise God," says he, "in search 
about these affairs, I will praise God in these 
things I understand, and I will admire him in 
those w^hich I do not; for I see that myself 
oftentimes do things w^herein my servants are 
blind, and conceive no reason ; as also I have 
seen little children cast into the fire jewels of 
great price, and their father's writings of great 
learning and wisdom ; for that they were not of 
capacity to understand the value and worthiness 
of the thing." 

I will allege one argument more of the meta- 
physician, grounded upon the immortality of 
man's soul ; which immortality is proved with 
one consent of all learned men,as Plato alleges : 

(4) for that is a spirit and immaterial substance, 
the nature of which depends not on the state 
of our mortal body ; for so by experience 
we see daily that in old men and withered 
sickly bodies, the mind and soul is frequently 
more quick, clear, pregnant and lively than 



(3) Plotia, lib. de prov. 

(4) Plat. I, 10, de repub. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 45 

in Youtli when the body was most lustv. 

The same is proved by the unquenchable 
desire which our mind has of learning, know- 
ledge, wisdom, and other such spiritual and im- 
material things: wherein her thirst by nature is 
so great that it cannot be satisfied in this life ; 
neither can the objects of sense and bodily 
pleasures, or any other commodity or delight of 
this material world, content or satiate the rest- 
less desire of this immaterial creature. 

Which is an evident argument to the phil- 
osopher that some other object and satisfaction 
is prepared for her in another world ; and that 
of such excellency and supereminent perfection, 
it will have in it all wisdom, all learning, all 
knowledge, all beauty, and all other causes of 
love, joy, and content, w^herein our souls may 
rest for ever. 

Rey, Robert Parsoks, S. J., 

Christian Directory. 



CONVEESION OF 
IDA, COUNTESS HAHN HAHN. 



Oh, yes, I believed, I believed in a god created 
by myself, and my reward was ashes ; I believed 
in idols, and they crumbled into dust, or they 
sank into the grave, and my portion was ashes. 
They could not free my soul, they could not com- 
fort it, they could not save it, they could not 
sanctify it, and my portion w^as ashes. My 
Lord and my God, with what grief do I now ac- 
knowledge that for so long, long a time I believ- 
ed so deeply, so firmly, and so lovingly in a 
something, which Thou wert not, but which I, 
with blinded obstinacy, regarded as my god. 
Oh ! that was indeed a fearful time, and scarce 
can I believe that I have only just emerged from 
its shadows. It seems to me as though I had 
passed through it hundreds of years ago, so dist- 
ant does it appear, but yet not so remote that I 
cannot calmly and clearly contemplate the 
whole. It seems to me that I have passed my 
whole life, till within the last few months, in 



TESTIMOJS^IES OF DISTIJS^GUISHED CONVERTS. 47 

some deep subterranean grotto ; I adorned my 
grotto to the best of my powers ; I toiled with 
honest love, and with many w^arm tears, to orna- 
ment its walls, ever deeming it to be a high and 
holy temple, and not a darkened cave. I light- 
ed lamps and torches therein, to make it as bright 
as my spirit could accomplish ; I brought flow- 
ers, too, as many as my poor heart could gather, 
and I raised altars therein, and sacrificed to my 
idols, to love, to truth, and to fame. 

Every person knows, every individual has felt 
the longing for love and for truth, but the burn- 
ing thirst for fame — ah, that is indeed something 
rare. Few have experienced, few^er still have 
comprehended this impulse to exist beyond this 
mortal life in a sort of terrestrial immortality, to 
enjoy the fruits of great thoughts, of great deeds, 
and of undying works of prose and poetry. Few 
know this earnest longing to see, following the 
bark of life, a long, sparkling streak, extending 
itself back over the ocean of time, or to have the 
spot whereon w^e moved in life marked by some 
lasting sign, which posterity will refer to us. I 
acknowledge myself to have felt this. I never 
thought of the triumph of the moment ; I looked 
forward to an immortality of earthly fame. 
Alas! with what perishable means, with what 



48 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

fragile tools did I hope to carve out an everlast- 
ing name, if we may aj)i3ly the word everlasting 
to this world's immortality. 

These, then, were my idols, and with them I 
continued to dwell in my subterranean grotto. 
But the day of their destruction came. The only 
exit from my cave opened by tortuous paths into 
the summit of a mountain ; I reached the ent- 
rance, I stood in the clear atmosphere, I inhaled 
the life-giving air under a heaven brilliant with 
stars, which were reflected a thousandfold in the 
boundless ocean at my feet ; and I heard a voice 
near to me that said, " This is the Church of 
Christ,'^ and I sank down and prayed. Since 
that hour all has been well. I have found God 
in revealed religion ; I have found Him a God 
of love, and in revealed religion I put all my 
trust. But my former friends will say, " Is not 
the Christian religion a revealed one, and were 
you not born and brought up in it, have you not 
professed it all your life V^ Oh, no ! True it is 
that I was born, was baptized, and was confirmed 
a Lutheran, but how could I possess a revealed 
religion when I did not possess a Church? 
Protestants, indeed, teach the existence of an in- 
visible Church, a thing of high and mysterious 
meaning. Yet it is no easy task to realize this 



TESTIMOIS^IES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 49 

invisible Church, to bring this doubtful theory or 
idea into living and reciprocal action. I, at least, 
have never understood it, have never realized it. 
It seems as though my soul had ever been a 
slumbering Catholic. In sleep we are not res- 
ponsible, and when my soul awaked she was 
Catholic, for Protestant doctrines she had never 
comprehended, never received, never converted 
into spiritual food. No echo replied, no note 
was struck, no responsive chord vibrated in my 
heart. Neither in my youth, not yet in my 
maturer years, did I find a resting-place for my 
religious feelings. 

From Babylon to Jerusalem. 



EEVIVAL OF CATHOLICISM 
IN GEKMANY. 



Germany, which in the middle age had pro- 
duced so many distinguished poets, artists, and 
philosophers, was, at the Keformation, shorn of 
much of her intellectual strength. In the dis- 
astrous thirty year's war, which that event 
brought about, she saw her universities robbed 
of their most distinguished ornaments, and the 
lights, which ought to have adorned her at home, 
shedding their lustre on foreign lands. The gen- 
eral languor and exhaustion of the German mind, 
consequent on that fearful and convulsive strug- 
gle, was apparent enough in the literature of the 
age, which ensued after the treaty of Westphalia. 
To these causes, which produced this general de- 
clension of the German intellect, must be added 
one which applies to the Catholic portion of 
Germany. 

Every great abuse of human reason, by natu- 
ral revulsion of feeling, inspires a certain dread 
and distrust of its powers. This has been more than 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 51 

once exemplified in the history of the Chnrcli. 
So, at thismomentous period, some of the German 
Cathohc powers sought in obscurantism a refuge 
and security against rehgious and political inno- 
vations, and denied to science that encour- 
agement which she had a right to look for at their 
hands : — a policy as infatuated as it is culpable, 
for, while ignorance draws down contempt and 
disgrace on religion, it begets in its turn, as a 
melancholy experience has proved, those very 
errors and that very unbelief, against which it 
was designed as a protection. 

Had the court of Austria acceded to the pro- 
posal of Leibnitz, for establishing at Vienna that 
academy of sciences which he afterwards suc- 
ceeded in founding at Berlin, the glory of that 
great resuscitation of the German mind, which 
occurred in the middle of the eighteenth century, 
would have then probably redounded to Catholic 
rather than to Protestant Germany. But the 
German Catholics, though they started later in 
the career of intellectual improvement, have at 
length reached, and even outstripped, their Pro- 
testant brethren in the race. , 

Three or four years before Schlegel embraced 
the Catholic faith, the signal for a return to the 
ancient Church was given by the illustrious Count 



52 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

Stolberg. The religious impulse which this 
great man imparted to German literature was 
simultaneous with that Christian regeneration of 
philosophy, commenced in France by the Viscount 
de Bonald. And these two illustrious men, in 
the noble career which fiye-and-thirty years ago 
they opened in their respective countries, have 
been followed by a series of gigantic intellects, 
who have restored the empire of faith, regene- 
rated art and science, and renovated, if I may so 
speak, the human mind itself * 

Forty years ago, the Catholics of Germany, as 
I said, were in a state of the most humiliating 
intellectual inferiority to their Protestant breth- 
ren ; — they could point to few writers of eminence 
in their own body; — Protestantism was the lord 
of the ascendant in ever}^ department of German 
letters : — and yet, so well have the Catholics em- 
ployed the intervening time, that they now fur- 
nish the most valuable portion of a literature, in 
many respects the most valuable in Europe. In 
every branch of knowledge they can now show 
writers of the highest order. To name but a few 
of the most distinguished, they have produced 

* The aristocracy of French literature, and a very splendid aris- 
tocracy it is, has been for the last twenty years decidedly Catholic. 
The enemies of the Church are to be found almost exclusively in the 
bourgeoisie, and still more in the canaille, of that literature. 



TESTIMON^IES OF DISTINGUISHED COlSryERTS. 53 

the t^,vo greatest Biblical critics of the age — Hug 
and Scholz — profound Biblical exegetists, like 
Alber, Ackermann, and, recently, Molitor, who 
has created a new era not only in Biblical litera- 
ture, but in the Philosophy of History — divines, 
like Wiest, Dobmayer, Schwarz, Zimmer, Brenner, 
Liebermann, and Moehler, distinguished as they 
are for various and extensive learning, and un- 
derstandings as comprehensive as they are acute, 
— -an ecclesiastical historian, pre-eminent for ge- 
nius, erudition, and celestial suavity, like Count 
Stolberg — philosophic archaeologists, like Ham- 
mer and Schlosser — admirable publicists, like 
Gentz, Adam Mueller, and tlie Swiss Haller — 
and two philosophers, possessed of vast acquire- 
ments and colossal intellects, like Goerres and 
the subject of this memoir. In Germany, and 
elsewhere, Catholic genius seems only to have 
slumbered during the eighteenth century, in 
order to astonish the world by a new and extra- 
ordinary display of strength. It is undoubtedly 
true that several of the above named individuals 
originally belonged to the Protestant Charch, and 
that that Church should have given birth to men 
of such exalted genius, refined sensibility, and 
moral worth, is a circumstance which furnishes 
our Protestant brethren with additional claims 



54 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OK, 

to our love and respect. We hail these first pro- 
selytes as pledges of a more general, and surely 
not very distant, re-union. 

Professor James Burton Eobertson, 
Literary Life of Frederick von SchlegeL 



THE SEE OF ST. PETER. 



Xot merely is it older than all the monarchies 
of Europe ; little is it to say that it has watched 
over their first rudiments, fostered their growth, 
assisted their development, maintained their ma- 
turity; it has been further upheld by a deep 
belief, shared in common by many various na- 
tions, older in each of them than their existence 
as nations, and continuing on through the lapse 
of ages, while almost everything else in those 
nations has changed; not only does it rule, claim- 
ing one equal and paternal sway over all, in 
spite of their various jealousies, their national 
antagonism, or their diverse temperament, so that 
German and Italian, who love not each other, 
Pole and Spaniard, who are so dissimilar, have 
yet in their faith a common father; but, moreover, 
every circumstance of the world has altered, and 
society gone round its whole cycle, from a corrupt 
heathen civilization, through a wild barbarism 
conflicting with Christianity, into wise and 
venerable politics built upon the Church, and 



56 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

having its life infused into their own, while all 
throughout a line of old men has been on the 
banks of the Tiber ruling this huge and many- 
membered Christian Commonwealth, not by the 
arm of the flesh, but by the word of the spirit. 
Nations fought and conquered, or were subdued ; 
populations were changed, and races engrafted. 
German and Italian, Frank and Gaul, Goth and 
Iberian, Saxon and Briton, Slavonian and Hun, 
were dashed together. There were centuries of 
bitter wrong — the pangs of Europe hastening to 
the birth. But a presiding spirit w^as there too, 
and brooded over all — a spirit of unity, order, 
and love. At last the darkness broke, and it 
was found that these wild nations, one and all, 
recognized the keys of Peter, and felt the sword 
of Paul. An omen of this victory had appeared 
in early times. St. Leo set forth the true doctrine 
of the Tncarnntion ; the Clmrcli listened, and wns 
saved from a heresy already half imposed upon 
her by the civil power of the Eastern empire. 
The Western empire trembled at the approach of 
Attila, and the same Leo went forth to meet the 
barbarian, who was awed by the simple majesty 
of his presence, and the power of God in the 
person of His chief minister. 

Fourteen hundred years have passed, and 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 57 

Leo's successor still sits upon his throne ; hun- 
dreds of Bishops, and millions of faithful, still 
believe that his voice sets forth and protects the 
true faith in every emergent heresy, and that 
wild force which Attila wielded has been tamed 
to the dominion of law, in that long- course of 
intervening- ages, by the power which Leo repre- 
sented. Yet, great as was his influence as head of 
the Church, still comparatively greater now is tlie 
authority of his successor amongst the nations of 
the earth, after all defections, amid all the 
unbelief of these latter times, when "many run 
to and fro, and knowledge is increased," and 
perilous powers are in motion and combination, 
powers which seek to substitute the human 
intellect with the arts and commodities of life 
springing from it, for the grace of God healing 
the nations, and the truth which He has com- 
mitted to the guardianship of his mystical body. 
Manners, races, empires have changed and 
passed away, but what S. Prosper sung in 431 is 
as true now : — 

'* Sedes Roma Petri, quae pastoralis honoris 
Facta caput mundo, quicquid non possidet armis 
Religione tenet." 

S. Augustine, at the end of the fourth century 
pointed to the line of Bishops descending from 



58 CONQUESTS OF OUK HOLY FAITH; OR, 

the very seat of Peter, to whom the Lord en- 
trusted his sheep to be fed, as holding him in the 
Catholic Church. It was a cogent argument 
then, but what is it now, when fourteen centuries 
and a half have added more than two hundred 
successors to that chair, and more than forty 
generations have encircled it with their homage ? 

Is it possible for an usurpation to subsist un- 
der such conditions ? Will many various nations 
agree that the head of their religion should be 
external to themselves ? Will the members of 
these various and jealous nations, who are equal 
in their episcopal power, allow a brother to ar- 
range their precedence, control their actions, 
terminate their disputes, rule them as one flock, 
and that for fifteen centuries together ? 

Or where shall we seek the foundation of such 
a power ? The Church bears witness to it, but 
did not create it. Councils acknowledge it, but 
it is before the councils. The first of them said, 
" The Koman Church always had the Primacy.'^ 
Who is sufficient to create such an institution 
and maintain it ? to take a common pebble that 
lay at his feet, and build on it a pyramid that 
should last for ever ; on which for evermore the 
rain should descend, the floods fall, and the 
winds blow, and all the powers of the evil one be 



TESTIIVIONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 59 

exerted in vain ? One alone, surely. So this 
authority itself declares, so the Church itself wit- 
nesses, so unnumbered Saints from age to age 
proclaim. That One who said, " Let there be 
light," and " This is my body/' said also ''Thou 
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my 
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it. And I will give unto thee the keys 
of the kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever thou 
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.'' 
Whither, then, shall I turn but to thee, O 
Glorious Koman Church, to whom God has given, 
in its fullness, the double gift of ruling and of 
teaching ? Thine alone are the keys of Peter, 
and the sharj) sword of Paul. On thee alone, 
with their blood, have they poured out their 
whole doctrine. Too late have I found thee, who 
shouldst have fostered my childhood, and set 
thy gentle and awful seal on my youth ; who 
shouldst have brought me up in the serene 
regions of truth, apart from doubt and the long 
agony of uncertain years. Yet before I under- 
stood thee, I could admire ; before I acknowledg- 
ed thy claims, I could see that undaunted spirit 
w^hich could resign everything save the inherit- 
ance of Christ ; that superhuman wisdom, by the 
gift of which, while " Earthly states have had 



60 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH. 

single conquerors or legislators, a Charlemagne 
here, a Philip Auguste there, in Rome the 
sj^iritual ruler has dwelt for ages, smiting the 
waters of the flood again and again with the 
mantle of Elijah, and making himself a passage 
through them unto the dry land." * But now I 
see that the God of Elijah is with thee. O, too 
long sought, and too late found ; yet be it given 
me to pass under thy protection the short remains 
of this troubled life, to wander no more from thy 
fold, but to find the chair of the Chief Shepherd 
to be indeed " The shadow of a Great Rock in a 
weary land!" 

COMMENDATORE ThOMAS WiLLIAM AlLIES, 

The See of St. Peter ^ the Rock of the Churchy 
the Source of Jurisdiction^ and the Centre of 
Unity. 



* Church of England cleared from Schism, p. 394. 



LETTER OF 
M. CHARLES LOUIS DE HALLER. 



Dearandbelovedconsort, fond and affectionate 
brothers and sisters, to whom I am so tenderly 
attached by tlie ties of blood, by an honorable con- 
nection, and by the remembrance of favors so 
lavishly bestowed — I could not have imagined 
that it was ever to fall to my lot to make to you, 
from Paris, a disclosure which will, perhaps, sur- 
prise and afflict you, and which, for that very 
reason very deeply affects me. But to this meas- 
ure necessity has compelled me, and it will, I 
trust, prove to you, sooner or later, a source of 
consolation and joy. For many years we have 
dwelt together in perfect harmony; heaven has 
crowned that harmony with every species of bles- 
sing; grant me, then, your friendship still farther, 
and listen to me with kind attention, at an epoch 
which I consider one of the most decisive in my 
life. You have long known, as well from my 
conversation as from public report, the inclina- 
tion entertained by me for the Catholic Church, 



62 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

which is nothing else than the Universal Society 
of Christians. This inclination is not the date 
of this day: no one has engaged me to it; no one 
has enticed me; it is the natural result of an 
upright heart, of sound reason, and of the par- 
ticular grace of the Almighty, who, during the 
course of my existence, has guarded me in a 
manner which seems almost miraculous. My 
brothers and sisters will, perha]3S, recollect the 
justice with which our deceased Father was ac- 
customed to speak of Catholics in the bosom of 
his family; he became acquainted with them by 
the number of his literary connections; he loved 
them; and in different articles even vindicated 
their belief. This seed has afterwards thriven in 
myself; and in spite of the errors of my youth, 
my ignorance, at least, was never the oifspring* of 
prejudice or repugnance. Tlie beauty of the 
Catholic churches raised my soul to the noble 
objects of Religion; the nakedness of our own, 
from which the very last emblem of Christianity 
is removed, together with the dryness of our 
worship, filled me with displeasure: it often ap- 
peared to me that something was wanting — that 
we were strangers in the midst of Christians. 
You may discover traces of these dispositions in 
an eulogy of Lavater, composed by me twenty- 



TESTIMOKIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 63 

one years ago, at Weimar. This celebrated man 
had been reproached with the same propensity ; 
I undertook to justify him ; and, though I had 
then, alas! no other religion than what is called 
natural religion — or rather that which I made 
myself — ^the manner in which, by the light of 
common sense alone, I expressed myself with re- 
spect to confession, with respect to regular absti- 
nence, considered as an exercise of privation, 
with respect to the embellishment of Christian 
temples, the ceremony of washing the feet, and 
even the unity of the Church, struck learned 
Catholics themselves with amazement. During 
my emigration, I met with an opportunity of 
knowing a considerable number of Catholic Pre- 
lates and Clergymen, and although they never 
spoke to me on the subject of religion, I could 
not refrain from admiring their spirit of charity, 
their resignation under every outrage, and, I may 
even add, their intelligence and superior knowl- 
edge. The study of works on the Secret Kevo- 
lutionary Societies of Germany furnished me 
with a specimen of a kind of spiritual association 
which was spread throughout the Globe to main- 
tain and propagate detestable principles, indeed, 
but which had, nevertheless, become powerful by 
its organization, by the union of its members, 



64 COITQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

and the various resources employed for compass- 
ing its end. Although these Societies inspired 
me with horror, they made me feel, however, the 
necessity of an opposite religious society, of an 
authority to teach and stand as the Sentinel of 
truth, to preserve mankind from being hurried 
away by every wind of doctrine. But at that 
time I harboured no doubt, and did not perceive, 
until long afterwards, that this Society exists in 
the Christian Universal or Catholic Church, and 
that this is the cause of the deadly hatred which 
all the impious bear against her; w^hilst every 
candid and religious soul, though in a separate 
communion, approaches her maxims at least in 
sentiment. During my stay at Vienna, my con- 
version might have been profitable to me in a 
temporal view, but the idea did not so much as 
enter my mind, and no one discoursed with me 
on the subject. At most, some few good souls, 
who wished me well, might have uttered, per- 
chance, a fervent prayer, or have given a slight 
insinuation. One day, as I was passing by a 
bookseller's, I observed a little book, designed 
for the use of the people, in which the rites and 
ceremonies of the Catholic Church are explained: 
I purchased it through mere curiosity, and have 
it still in my possession. What was my surprise 



TESTBIOlSriES OF DISTINGUISHED COIS^VERTS. 65 

on learning such a variety of instructive matter, 
and on finding out the meaning, end, and utility 
of so many practices which we hold for super- 
stitions! But my political reflections and studies 
were the principal means that led me insensibly 
to recognize truths which I was far from fore- 
seeing. Disgusted with the false doctrines which 
were prevalent, and perceiving them to be the 
cause of every evil, the sincerity of my intentions 
always induced me to search for other principles 
concerning the lawful origin and nature of social 
relations. A single idea, at once simple and 
fruitful, truly inspired by the grace of God, which 
consists in tracing things from their origin, in 
ranging according to the order of time, as well 
in science as in nature, the father before his chil- 
dren, the master before his servants, the prince 
before his subjects, the teacher before his scholars, 
brought on from consequence to consequence the 
plan of that work, or of that body of doctrine, 
which makes so great a noise in Europe at pres- 
ent, * and which may be destined to re-establish 
the true principles of social justice, and to repair, 
in a great measure, the evils of the earth. I 



* Restoration of Political Science, or a Theory of the Social and 
Natural Order, opposed to the Chimera of the Civil and Artificial 
State. 



66 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

likewise represented to my mind a spiritual and 
pre-existing power or authority, the founder of 
a religious doctrine, collecting disciples, forming 
them into a society for supporting and disseminat- 
ing that doctrine, giving them laws and consti- 
tutions^ gradually acquiring territorial property 
in order to satisfy the demands of this religious 
community, and, in short, capable of arriving at 
an exterior or temporal independence. Having 
afterwards consulted the voice of history and ex- 
perience, I found that every point of this nature 
had been realized in the Catholic Church; and 
this observation alone obliged me to acknowledge 
her authority, her veracity, her legitimacy. Some . 
penetrating persons among the Catholics had al- 
ready remarked this propensity, in the ''Abridge 
ment of Political Sciencey^ which I published in 
1808, and told me, that, without being aware of 
it, I was actually of the same faith. The atten- 
tive and frequent perusal of the Bible convinced 
me more fully that I was not deceived; for, 
gifted as I have been by Almighty God with a 
spirit of justice and impartiality, I could not 
easily mistake the numberless passages which 
have no relation except to one kingdom of God 
on earth, namely: one Church, or one Society of 
faithful, whom St Paul styles the body of Jesus 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTIIS^GUISHED CO^S^ VERTS. 67 

Christ, ^ having one chief and different members, 
appointed to defend and sj)read the Christian 
Religion : these are passages which our ministers 
never quote, because, according to the Protestant 
construction, it is impossible to give them a 
simple and natural explanation. 

The small Tract which I edited in 1811, under 
the title of "Political Religion^ or Heligious 
Politics^^^ which is no more than the collating of 
scriptural passages on social relations and duties, 
supplied me with a new proof of the same prin- 
ciples, though I had still preserved the utmost 
caution, and few readers had yet entered into my 
train of thought. Thus, my dear Brothers and 
Sisters, I may say with truth, that, from the year 
1808, I was a Catholic in my heart, and a Prot- 
estant only in name. This sentiment assumed 
a new degree of vigor in 1815, a period at which 
Providence in his mercy seems to have re-united 
the Bishopric of Basel to our Canton, in order to 
instruct and make us acquainted with the genuine 
opinions of the Universal Church, and to dis- 
sipate a number of baneful prejudices. On 
being sent into this new quarter of our territories, 
and in digesting the instructions for the act of 



Timothy, III. 15. 



68 COT^QUESTS OF OUR HOLT FAITH. 

re-union and the act itself, I formed an acquaint- 
ance with several distinguished characters, and 
still more celebrated productions which were 
either necessary or useful for enriching and per- 
fecting the fourth volume of my work that treats 
of Religious Societies, or Ecclesiastical Govern- 
ments. The perusal of these works improved 
both my mind and heart; and by degrees, the 
last glimmerings of doubt disappeared, even with 
regard to articles of faith, about which I had not 
been hitherto concerned; the bandage fell from 
my eyes, my mind was in perfect unison with 
my heart; it seemed to me that I had found the 
way^ the truths and the life^ and my soul, having, 
as it were, a hunger and thirst for truth, appeared 
to be completely satisfied. My heart naturally 
desires to cling to something fixed and permanent. 
This I find only in the Catholic Church: she 
hears that marh of immutahility ivhich is en- 
graved on all the worTcs of the Creator. 



CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



Tlie Comte de Maitre, writing one day to tis 
daughter, Constance, wlio was complaining of 
the position of women in society, and wishing 
that they could all become authoresses, says : 
"You are mistaken, my child, as to the true 
power and mission of women, "Women, it is 
true, have neither written the 'Iliad' nor the 
'Odyssey,' nor 'Jerusalem Delivered,' nor 
'Athalia,' but they have created far greater 
marvels than these. It is by them and on their 
knees that what is most excellent in the world 
is formed and perfected. Do you think," he 
added "that I should have been as grate- 
ful to your mother for writing a clever 
novel as for giving me your brother ? and when 
I say that, I do not mean merely bringing him 
into the world, and putting him into his cradle, 
but forming his heart and mind to be what he 
is. The true mission of a women is in her 
home, to make her husband happy, and to bring 
up her children, that is^ to create great men. 



70 COIS^QUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

That is the ^second birth/ which has not been 
cursed like the first !" 

Doubtless, if the mother's life be absorbed 
in frivolity and pleasure, the child's will bear 
the same stamp; but we do not speak of mothers 
like these. 

Look at St. Bernard, where did he learn his 
purity, his faith, his burning love for God? 
from his mother Aleth. To whom did St. 
Symphorian owe the heroism of his life and of 
his death, but to his mother Augusta? And St, 
Chrysostom, and St. Athanasius, and St. Am- 
brose, and St. Gregory the Great; and, later 
still, St. Louis, St. Edward, St. Francois d'Assisi, 
St. Francois de Sales, St. Theresa? The time 
would fail us to enumerate the names of all the 
heroes and saints trained by their mothers for 
their great and noble destinies. Well might 
Horace exclaim, "Fortes creantur fortibus et 
bonis;'" and again, we read m the Holy Scrip- 
tures, "Generatio rectorum benedicetur." 

But to act thus on the hearts and minds of 
their children, mothers must sujBfer, must weep 
and pray, must offer the sacrifice of their very 
lives, if need be, to snatch them from evil and 
draw them to God, The real Christian mother 
who would sooner see her son die than stained 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 71 

with mortal sin, has given to the world, in all 
ages, an example before which Pagan heroines 
fade into insio:nificance. See the mother of the 
holy twins of Langres kissing the chains of her 
three little children in the prison, and exhorting 
them to die with courage for their faith; or 
Symphorosa, trembling lest her boy of sixteen 
should shrink under the torture, running before 
him, crying out, ^^My son! they cannot take 
your life. They can only exchange it for a 
better!" Or, again, St. Denise, seeing her beau- 
tiful child expiring under the lash, yet sustain- 
ing him by her courage, her voice, and her look 
to the last! Does it not seem impossible to 
fathom agonies like those of Symphorosa, 
Felicita, and others, who saw their children 
die inch by inch under the cruelty of their 
tormentors, and yet never flinched from the 
untold martyrdom, and could even rejoice in 
the triumphs of their faith? It is rarely, indeed, 
in these days, that mothers have to go through 
sufferings of this kind ; but their mission is not 
the less arduous or important. The storms of 
heresy and unbelief are rising up on all sides 
to turn their sons from their childhood's faith. 
The luxury and self-indulgence of the age are 
for ever causing them to drift into the current 



72 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

of impurity and vice with wMcli they are sur- 
rounded. What shall be their anchor and their 
stay? What, but the mother's ever vratchful 
love and warninoi; voice? And should these 
eflforts fail, from unavoidable separation or other 
causes, she has still one all-powerful arm — her 
tears before God. Read in the Holy Scriptures 
how these w^ere answered. Look at Hagar, in 
the Old Testament, and in the New, at the 
Canaanitish woman and the widow of Nain, 
Why were these miracles multiplied by our 
Lord, but to prove to the mothers the august 
power He has placed in their hands; and to 
teach them, whatever may be the wanderings or 
youthful follies of their sons, how, by dint of 
sufferings, and sacrifices, and prayers, they may 
bring them back to God ! 

Lady Herbert, 
Three Phases of Christian Love, 



THE CONYEESION OF 
MAEIE-ALPHONSE EATISBONNE. 



Alphonse Ratisbonne was a Jew; he was des- 
tined, to all appearance, to a brilliant position in 
the world, and had resolved to devote himself to 
the great work of the regeneration of his co- 
religionists. His thoughts and aspirations all 
revolved around this one high purpose, and his 
wrath kindled at everything that reminded him 
of the curse that rests uj)on the descendants of 
Jacob. Fifteen years before the time of which 
I am speaking, and while he was yet a child, his 
heart had been wounded in one of its most sen-- 
sitive affections. Theodore Ratisbonne, his bro- 
ther, became a Catholic, and received holy orders. 
Time had been powerless to close this wound; 
his hatred deepened year by year, and he studi- 
ously fomented the deadly resentment of his 
family. 

Yet this man, in full possession of all his senses 
and faculties, entered a church in Rome as an 
obstinate Jew; and, by one of those swift flashes 



74 CONQUESTS OF OUK HOLY FAITH; OR, 

of grace which laid Saul prostrate at the gates 
of Damascus, he came forth, ten minutes after- 
wards, a Catholic in heart and in will. 

I give the account of this miraculous conver- 
sion in his own words : *^ 1 had been but a few 
moments in the Church of S. Andrea delle Fratte, 
when I was suddenly seized with an unutterable 
agitation of mind, I raised my eyes, the build- 
ing had disappeared from before me ; one single 
chapel had, so to speak, gathered and concen- 
trated all the light; and in the midst of this 
radiance I saw standing on the altar, lofty, clothed 
with splendors, fall of majesty and of sweetness, 
the Virgin Mary, just as she is represented on 
her miraculous medal. An invisible force drew 
me towards her; the Virgin made me a sign with 
her hand that I should kneel down; and then 
she seemed to say, That will do! She spoke not 
a word, but I understood all." 

Brief as this statement is, Katisbonne could 
not utter it without pausing frequently to take 
breath, and to subdue the emotion with which 
he was thrilling. We listened to him with a 
sacred awe, mingled with joy and with gratitude, 
marvelling at the depth of the counsels of God, 
and at the ineffable treasures of His mercy. One 
word struck us especially by its depth of mystery : 



TESTI3IO]S^IES OF DISTINGUISHED COISTVERTS. 75 

''She spoke not a loord, hut I understood ally 
Indeed, it was quite enough to listen to 
Ratisbonne; the Catholic faith exhaled from his 
heart like a precious perfume from the casket, 
which contains it indeed, but cannot confine it. 
From the moment in which he requested the 
sacrament of Baptism, he was placed under the 
care of the venerable father who rules a society 
justly dear to every Christian. This good father, 
after hearing his story with his wonted benig- 
nity, and at the same time with calm gravity, had 
urged him to weigh well the sacrifices he would 
be compelled to make, the serious obligations he 
would have to fulfil, the peculiar conflicts which 
awaited him, the temptations and testing trials 
to which a step like his would expose him; and 
then, pointing to a crucifix which stood on the 
table, he said : ^' That cross "^ which you saw in 
your sleep, when once you have been baptized, 
you must not only worshij) it, but you must bear 
it; " and then, opening the Holy Scriptures, he 
turned to the second chapter of Ecclesiasticus, 
and read to Ratisbonne these words: ''Son, when 



* " In the middle of the night before the 20th of January, I awoke 
suddenly, and saw before me a large black cross, of a- peculiar form, 
and without the figure of our Lord. I made many attempts to gei 
rid of this image, but I could not succeed ; however I turned, there 
it was always before me." 



76 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

tliou comest to the service of God, stand in jus- 
tice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for tempta- 
tion. Humble thy heart and endure: incline thine 
ear, and receive the words of understanding: 
and make not haste in the time of clouds. Wait 
on God with patience; join thyself to God, and 
endure, that thy life may be increased in the 
latter end. Take all that shall be brought upon 
thee: and in thy sorrow endure, and in thy 
humilation keep peace. For gold and silver are 
tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the fur- 
nace of humiliation. Believe God, and He will 
recover thee: and direct thy way, and trust in 
Him. Keep His fear, and grow old therein." 

These divine words produced a deep impression 
on Ratisbonne. Far from discouraging him, 
they strengthened his resolution, and gave him 
very serious and sober ideas of Christianity. He 
listened, however, in silence; but at the close of 
this retreat which preceded his Baptism, he went 
in the evening to see the holy priest who had 
read him these words a week before, and begged 
for a copy of them, that he might preserve them, 
and meditate on them every day of his life. 

About half-past eight in the morning of Jan- 
uary 31st, 1842, M. Ratisbonne, clothed in the 
white robe of a catechumen, was led in by the 



TESTIMOIS^IES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 77 

reverend Father Villefort, who had prepared 
him for Baptism, and by Baron Theodore de 
Bussieres, his sponsor, and took his place in the 
chapel of St. Andrew, near the principal entrance 
of the church. At nine o'clock his Eminence 
Cardinal Patrizi, Vicar of his Holiness, began to 
recite the prayers prescribed in the ritual for the 
baptism of adults. There are found psalms 
which seem as though they had been written ex- 
pressly to clothe with words the feelings of the 
catechumen, and to tell out the way in which the 
Lord had been pleased to call him to the truth. 
For so wondrous is the depth of the Holy 
Scriptures, that every one finds in them the ex- 
pressions which render most aptly the ever vary- 
ing experience of his soul, and the manifold 
circumstances of his inner life. 

And what could paint more vividly the 
troubled and weary heart of the young Jew, as 
he beheld the enchantment pass away from the 
face of the earth, and was sad amidst the pleas- 
ures of his favored position ? Why art thou 
cast doivriy O my soul ? Poor stricken soul, in 
vain dost thou shift thine horizon, and seek the 
distraction of thy sadness in other and strange 
lands ; still will thy tears be thy bread day and 
night, for there is no resting-place for the exile 



78 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

— for day by day it is said to lliee, in thy sacred 
heart, ivJiere now is thy God f But hope thou in 
God; for soon shalt thou confess His Holv 
Name, and find the heart's true rest, the balm for 
every wound ; ho'pe thou in God^ for I ivill still 
give praise to Him, the salvation of my counte- 
nance and my God, Think, that, in His own ap- 
pointed time. He hath sent unto thee the Mother 
of mercies: in the daytime the Lord hath com- 
manded His mercy. Hope thou, then, in God; 
fear no longer to draw near unto the tabernacle 
of awe wherein lies hidden the Holy of Holies ; 
say thou rather in thine heart, and I will go in 
to the altar of God ; He alone can slake my soul's 
deep thirst. Thou feelest now the hideousness 
of sin, of thine own inherited taint ; when shall I 
come, when shall I enter the sacred ark, out of 
which is no salvation ? When may I cast my- 
self down before the face of my God ? When 
shall I come, and appear before the presence of 
God f Like as the hart panteth after the foun- 
tains of water, so longeth my soul for the hallow- 
ed streams of Baptism, so thirsteth my soul for 
God, the spring and fount of all strength and all 
life. 

When these preliminary prayers were said, 
his Eminence proceeded in procession to the 



TESTIMOJSTES OF DSTIISTGUISHED CONYEETS. 79 

lower end of the church. There Father Villefort 
and M. de Bussieres presented to him the young 
Jew. ^^What cravest thou of the Church of 
God?" "Faith.'^ And this faith, this holy 
Catholic faith, it was his already ; the bright and 
morning star had already risen upon him, and 
enlightened him with its clear shining. 

Already has the bishop breathed thrice upon 
him to put to flight the spirit of evil ; he has 
marked him with the Christian's characteristic 
mark, the venerable sign of the cross, on his 
forehead, on his eyes, on his ears, on his breast, 
on his shoulders, in order to impress upon the 
new-born Christian that it was henceforth his 
duty to hallow to Christ his intelligence and his 
heart, and to bear with loving readiness the yoke 
of the cross. He has given him to taste the salt 
of wisdom, and said over him the prayers of 
exorcism. He is asked his name. "Marie," 
is his repl)^, with an outburst of gratitude and 
of love, Marie ! the thrice -blessed name of 
the Queen of Patriarchs, who has opened to 
him the gates of the Church, and will open for 
him those of heaven — the everlasting gates. 

The tone and accent of deepest conviction 
with which this child of Mary pronounced his 
profession of the Catholic faith, produced on 



80 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

all present an impression which still thrills 
throug:hout their whole beinor. 

At length that sacred flood, whose waters 
spring up into everlasting life, has come down 
upon that brow so lowly bent ; Marie Ratisbonne 
rises up a Christian — a Christian pure and fer- 
vent, as are the angels who stand about the 
throne of God. 

He holds in his hand the blessed taper, 
whose flame betokens that light of submissive 
faith which wavers not nor misleads. The lay- 
ing on of hands and the unction with holy 
chrism imparts to him a second grace, in con- 
firming the fullness of that which he has already 
received. Henceforth Ratisbonne is a disciple 
of the cross ; he is prepared to confess aloud to 
all the faith of that Jesus who gave Himself 
for us. 

Baroist Theodore de BussiiiREs, 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHURCH. 



A Church venerable by the multitude of 
people, of which she is composed, and which 
descended in a direct line from those whom the 
Apostles assembled the first, under the banner 
of the cross, A Church venerable by the tes- 
timony which all these people bear, that they 
have received from their fathers the faith which 
they profess; and that their fathers received it 
from their ancestors, the furthest up, who held 
it from the Apostles ; so that this depositum or 
trust is derived down from the Apostles unto 
us, bv a succession in which no man can make 
out by any proof of fact that there was even 
the least interruption. A Church venerable for 
the constant succession of her Pastors and 
Bishops, descended from those who in all ages 
had been ordained, after an authentic and can- 
onical manner, by other Bishops, who had re- 
ceived their mission from the Apostles after the 
same authentic and regular manner. A Church 
which, after surmounting the fury of the Pagnns 



82 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

and Jews by the greatness of her miracles, and 
by the constancy of her martyrs, hath acquired 
a new degree of glory by the purity and unity 
of the faith which she hath always preserved 
in spite of all the efforts of Heretics and Schis- 
matics; and by the judgments from Heaven, 
wherewith these new enemies have been visibly 
struck, never failing to fall of themselves, and 
to come to nothing, after they had been branded 
with her anathemas. 

This is, I say, visibly the Religion and the 
Church which God has formed to instruct His 
people; and it is only upon the testimony and 
authority of this Church that the truth of the 
Christian Religion became visible to all the 
world, as a light set upon a candle-sticky because 
the people are not capable to perceive anything 
else but the authority of the Church and to pay 
it the profound submission which the Church 
requires on the part of God concerning all the 
things that appertain to the faith. When there 
is a question of Religion, nothing seems to be 
more worthy of God's wisdom than the Catho- 
lic Church, which lets us find with her a testi- 
mony upon which all men may safely rely, 
touching what is necessary for them to know, 
in order to their salvation. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 83 

As soon as God gave me the grace to open 
my eyes to perceive the light of truth, I adored 
His divine wisdom, and His mercy in the estab- 
lishment of the Christian Keligion; I was 
charmed with the Catholic Church, and I em- 
ployed my time upon nothing else more than 
to reflect upon the beauty and divinity of the 
one and the other. 

Monsieur Papin, 
The Toleration of the Protestants and 
the Authority of the Church, 



ST. AUGUSTINE. 



Endowed with a rich and vigorous nature, 
as luxuriant of vitality as the tropical climate 
in which he was nurtured, he bloomed like a 
glowing flower, and was ripened like a luscious 
fruit, beneath the hot sun of Africa and the 
burning radiance of the old Greek and Roman 
intelligence. In the early and half-pagan period 
of his life, this wild, unrestrained vitality of 
his intellectual and sensitive nature carried him 
into excesses of passion, and of dreamy, ex- 
travagant speculation. At the later, or Christian 
period, when reason, conscience, and divine grace 
had brought his mighty but chaotic elements 
into order and harmony, it served to fire his 
heart with the most sacred and pure enthusiasm, 
and to impel his soul in its bold, swift, and 
steady flight towards the highest regions of 
celestial truth. Such a man could not be a dry, 
commonplace, mechanical agent for other minds, 
to elaborate their thoughts into systems made 
to order, and clothe their ideas with logical and 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 85 

rhetorical forms, AVhen lie came into the po- 
sition of a teacher, a pastor, a ruler and counsel- 
lor in the Church, an expositor and champion 
of faith, in the most active and most critical 
times, he must necessarily throw himself into 
all the living questions of the day with the 
whole warmth and energy of his mind and 
character, and become himself an original, for- 
mative, and powerful actor on the mind of the 
Church and of the world ; one of those creative 
spirits that brood over the chaos of thought, 
and evolve its hidden cosmic order and harmony. 
He brought with him, in addition to the gifts 
of genius, the most perfect heathen culture of the 
day, and all the wealth of heathen science and 
art; to these were superadded the choicest graces 
of the Holy Spirit, and an intimate knowledge, 
through personal intercourse or the study of 
their works, of all the great witnesses and 
teachers of the Christian faith, from the still 
recent times of the Apostles to his own day. 

His own disposition and the urgency of affairs 
led him to study Christian doctrine in all its 
parts and bearings, to penetrate its meaning, to 
search for the method of vindicating" it against 
all objections, and to pour forth, during thirty 
or forty years, a continuous stream of didactic, 



86 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

polemic, or liortatory writings, to explain, de- 
fend, or enforce its teachings. These works 
contain specimens of the highest class of phil- 
osopliical writing, which entitle their author to 
be called the Christian Plato ; and, in regard to 
rhetorical elegance, and the charm of a finished 
style, are often, as, for instance, in the Fhilo- 
sopliical Dialogues^ written just before his bap- 
tism, worthy to be compared with the similar 
compositions of Cicero. 

The writings of St. Augustine have a great 
importance in the ej^es of the Protestant as 
well as the Catholic world. Protestants, as well 
as Catholics, look on him as one of the great 
saints and doctors of Christendom, and appreci- 
ate his inflaence on Christian theology at the 
highest. The Calvinistic and Lutheran ortho- 
dox Protestants claim him as their great father 
and a teacher of what they call their Evangeli- 
cal system, a claim which also binds them to 
accept the Catholic Church of his period as 
orthodox and evangelical. The Anglican sec- 
tion must necessarily recognize him as one of 
the chief Catholic doctors, and accept the 
doo^matic action of the Catholic Church in his 
century against all heretics and schismatics 
with whom he warred as her champion. The 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 87 

Pelagian, Unitarian, and Rationalist Protestants 
unite with the others in their acknowledgment 
of his greatness and virtue, and exaggerate his 
influence on the doctrines of the Church beyond 
all bounds. They regard him as the original 
author and expounder of a class of doctrines in 
tlie Calvinistic system which they reject, and 
which they erroneously suppose were introduced 
into the theology of the Catholic Church by 
St. Augustine, and afterward sanctioned by for- 
mal definitions. This is an additional reason 
for studying the w^orks of the great doctor, and 
endeavoring to bring out his true doctrine. We 
wdsh to show that neither the saint himself nor 
the Church of his period held the Calvinistic or 
Evangelical system, and thus remove the mis- 
conceptions of both Calvinists and Pelagians. 
We desire also to adduce the evidence of his 
wa'itings to show that he and the Church of his 
period held the system of the Catholic doctrine 
prescribed by the See of Rome at the present 
day as a term of communion with herself and 
the churches under her jurisdiction. That is to 
say, we cite St. Augustine as a witness w^hose 
veracity and Christian piety are acknowledged 
and venerated on all hands, against Protestant- 



88 CONQUSTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

ism in general, but particularly that form of it 
called Evangelical. 

Eey. Augustine F, Hewit, 

Problems of the Age^ with Studies in St. Au- 
gustine on Kindred Topics. 



CHRISTIAN ART. 



A true knowledge and appreciation of de 
votional feeling in painting and its practical 
principles are already established among us on 
a sufficiently secure basis; that happy talent 
which is the gift of nature alone, united with 
the technical skill and facility that must be ac- 
quired by study, we assume to be already pro- 
vided. What more, then, is needed, it may be 
asked, to enable the painter to reach the per- 
fection to which he aspires? I reply that it is 
most essential, in the first place, that the beauti- 
ful truths of the Christian faith and religion 
should not be received into the mind as merely 
lifeless forms, in passive acquiescence to the 
teachings of others: they must be embraced 
with an earnest conviction of their truth and 
reality, and bound up with each individual 
feeling of the painter's souL Still, even the 
influence of devotion is not always sufficient; 
for, however entirely religion may be felt to 
compensate for all that is wanting to our earthly 



90 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY faith; OR, 

happiness, much more is required to form a 
painter. I know not how better to designate 
that other element, without which mere tech- 
nical skill, and even correct ideas, will be un- 
availing, than by styling it the inborn light of 
inspiration. It is something quite different from 
fertility of invention, or magic of coloring, rare 
and valuable as is the latter feature in painting. 
It is uo less distinct from skill in the lofty 
technicalities of design and natural feeling for 
beauty inherent in some susceptible minds. 

The poet and the musician especially should 
also be inspired, but their inspiration is more 
the offspring of human emotion, the painter's 
must be an emanation of celestial light; his 
very soul must, so to speak, become itself illum- 
ined, a glowing centre of holy radiance, in whose 
bright beams every material object should be 
reflected, and even his inmost conceptions and 
daily thoughts be interpenetrated by its bright- 
ness, and remodelled by its influence. This 
in-dwelling light of the soul should be recog- 
nized in every creation of the pencil, expressive 
as a spoken word; and in this lies the peculiar 
vitality of Christian beauty, and the cause of 
the remarkable difference between classical and 
Christian art. The classic is based upon a lofty 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 91 

idea of the living human frame, linked in a 
certain degree with a sentiment of exquisite 
intellectual loveliness, yet not treated as if these 
principles were of equal importance, but rather 
giving to the intellectual spirit an inferior and 
secondary influence : man, according to the early 
Christian type, still appears in nature, according 
to the antique idea, like the commanding God 
ruling over his spirit-forms with king-like power; 
yet physical beauty is here employed but as a 
material veil, from beneath which the hidden 
divinity of the soul shines forth, illuminating 
all mortal life with the higher spirituality of 
love. Even in the choice of subjects for paint- 
ing, this ray of in-born inspiration, this divine 
enthusiasm, must guide and govern the painter's 
decision. A moi'e than earthly aspect subduing 
the soul; a state of heavenly illumination and 
exultation; an up-springing from the dark night 
of mortality, like the morning dawn breaking 
through heavy clouds; a spell of love and fasci- 
nation in the midst of suffering nature, or a 
flash of intense beauty, created from the very 
anguish of the soul's despair; — such are the 
peculiar and not merely pleasing themes which 
afford subjects to the Christian painter, and 
such is the spirit in which they ought to be 



92 COJS^QUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

lendered. There are also, it is true, old histori- 
cal and even mythological subjects which are 
not only susceptible of the deeper meaning that 
the soul demands, but even naturally suggest 
and give birth to it. Such themes certainly 
need not be excluded from the circle of Christ- 
ian art. It does not by any means require an 
arbitrary restriction to certain exterior forms 
and given subjects, nor does its beauty depend 
exclusively on the observance of particular 
rules, but rather springs from the all-pervading 
influence of a pure and holy devotion. All 
mere representations of the outward frame, 
taken without reference to the spirit, are but 
dead forms, mute and inexpressive. The spirit 
never remains attached in motionless union to a 
lifeless frame, and the soul-inspiring principle 
of intellectual development, like the restless 
pulse-throb of natural life, aspires unceasingly, 
without weariness or lassitude, to the eternal 
goal it has in view; we need not therefore fear 
lest modern Christian art should ever again 
recur to the vain repetition and imitation of the 
Pagan antique, but may rather anticipate that, 
pressing steadily forward, it will establish and 
carry to perfection the new and peculiar school 
which has arisen from the progressive develop- 



TESTIMOMES OF DISTIISTGUISHED CONVERTS. 93 

ment of Christian intellect, and the spiritual 
disposition now prevailing in the world. 

A profound knowledge of early art and gen- 
uine feeling for holy beauty will powerfully 
conduce to this most earnestly desired result, 
and would seem to promise certain indications 
of success. In the productions of our Christian 
ancestors, whatever may be the theme selected, 
the innate principles of their holy faith and 
piety are strikingly apparent, and, in order 
rightly to understand and appreciate them, the 
eye of the beholder should be illumined with 
that same spiritual light from whence they drew 
their birth. This sympathy of feeling will 
quicken our perception of holy things, for the 
soul alone can comprehend the truly beautiful ; 
the eye of sense may gaze on the material veil of 
external grace, but it penetrates not to the severe 
and lofty meaning which reveals itself to the 
intelligence alone. That radiant light of the 
soul, in which, as in the magic mirror of creative 
fancy, the beautiful is vividly portrayed and 
recognized, is true, unfeigned, and spiritual de- 
votion, ever, therefore, essentially linked with 
Christianity, inseparably one with the mys- 
terious revelation of our holy faith, and the 



94 CONQUESTS OF OUB HOLY FAITH; OR, 

all-subduing power and perfect knowledge of 
divine and immortal love, 

Frederick von Schlegel, 
Aesthetic and Miscellaneous Works. 



THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI 
IN CATHOLIC EUROPE. 



O the joy of the immense glory which the 
Church is sending up to God this hour: verily! 
as if the world was all unfallen still! We think, 
and as we think, the thoughts are like so many 
successive tide- waves filling our whole souls with 
the fulness of delight, of all the thousands of 
Masses which are being said or sung the whole 
world over, and all rising with one note of bliss- 
ful acclamation from grateful creatures to the 
Majesty of our merciful Creator. How many 
glorious processions, with the sun upon their 
banners, are now winding their way round the 
squares of mighty cities, through the flower- 
strewn streets of Christian villages, through the 
antique cloisters of the glorious Cathedral, or 
through the grounds of the devout Seminary^ 
where the various colors of the faces and the dif- 
ferent languages of the people are only so many 
fresh tokens of the unity of that faith which 
they are all exultingly professing in the single 



96 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

voice of the magnificent ritual of Rome! Upon 
how many altars of various architecture, amid 
sweet flowers and starry lights, amid clouds of 
humble incense and the tumult of thrilling song, 
before thousands of prostrate worshippers, is the 
Blessed Sacrament raised for exposition, or taken 
down for benediction! And how many blessed 
acts of faith and love, of triumph and of repara- 
tion, do not each of these things surely represent ! 
The w^orld over, the summer air is filled with the 
voice of song. The gardens are shorn of their 
fairest blossoms to be flung beneath the feet of 
the Sacramental God. The steeples are reeling 
with the clang of bells; the cannon are booming 
in the gorges of the Andes and the Apennines; 
the ships of the harbors are painting the bays 
of the sea with their show of gaudy flags; the 
pomp of royal or republican armies salutes the 
King of kings. The pope on his throne and the 
school-girl in her village, cloistered nuns and 
sequestered hermits, bishops and dignitaries and 
preachers, emperors and kings and princes, are 
all engrossed to-day with the Blessed Sacrament. 
Cities are illuminated; the dwellings of men are 
alive with exultation. Joy so abounds, that men 
rejoice they know not why, and their joy over- 
flows on sad hearts, and on the poor and the im- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 97 

prisoned, and tlie wandering and the orphaned, 
and the homesick exiles. All the millions of 
souls that belong to the royal family and the 
spiritual lineage of St. Peter are to-day engaged 
more or less with the Blessed Sacrament: so that 
the whole Church Militant is thrilling with glad 
emotion, like the tremulous rocking of the mighty 
sea. Sin seems forgotten; tears even are of rap- 
ture rather than of penance. It is like the soul's 
first day in heaven; or as if earth itself were 
passing into heaven, as it well might do, for sheer 
joy of the Blessed Sacrament. 

Grace grows active as great feasts grow nigh; 
and its preludes bring many souls to the feet of 
their spiritual physicians. Crowds that were in 
sin yesterday, now, for the love of Jesus, have 
made to-day's sun rise upon their penance; and 
over each one all heaven's angels rejoiced, more 
than over a newly-created world. Millions have 
made their preparation for Communion, and the 
least fervent of them all did something for God 
he would not else have done. The same millions 
communicated; and think of all that Jesus did 
in them, and with them, and for them, while the 
sacramental union lasted! The same millions 
made their thanksgiving, and what a choir of 
praise was there. How many aged men will the 



98 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

evening find less worldly than the morning saw 
them. In how many souls of children has not 
faith started and grown, strong, supple, juicy 
shoots, more than a whole year's growth in one 
brief day; and what a glorious thing is each 
growth of faith in a childish soul, seeing there 
comes along with it such a glorious promise for 
eternity! And what shall I say of those deeper 
depths, the souls of mortified interior men? I 
suppose that the mere exercise of faith, to say 
nothing of love, in asaint, is something so deep and 
high, so far-reaching and full of union with Christ, 
that we common Christians know nothing of it. 
And how many real saints, how many hereafter 
to be raised on the altars of the Church, have 
been in rapture, in ecstasy, in transcendent com- 
munion with God this day, through the stirring 
of the life-giving mystery in their souls. The 
silent cloister has sent up thousands of sweet 
perfumes from espoused souls throughout the day ; 
acts of faith enough to win grace for unconverted 
tribes, acts of love sufficient to expiate a sea of 
blasphemies and a world of sacrilege, acts of 
union which have strengthened and invigorated 
the whole Church and quickened all its pulses 
in places far remote from the cells, where the acts 
were perfected in solitude and prayer and austere 



TESTIMOTTIES OF DISTHSTGUISHED COIS^YEKTS. 99 

concealment. Who can tell the vocations begun 
or achieved to-day, the conversions suggested or 
affected, the first blows given to a sinful habit or 
the crowning virtue to a devout resolve, the sins 
remitted, or the sinful purposes abandoned, the 
death-beds illuminated or the souls liberated from 
purgatory, through the quickened charity of 
earth? There has been a vast and busy and 
populous empire of interior acts open to the eye 
of God to-day, so beautiful, so glorious, so reli- 
gious, so acceptable, that the feasf of the outer 
world has been the poorest possible expression 
of thf^ inner feast of the world of spirit. And 
what is it all but triumph — the triumph of our 
hidden Lord? 

See, too, how sweetly the wisdom of God is 
glassed in the mirror of this heavenly mystery ! 
It was the invention of Jesus to stay in the world 
even when He was quitting it; to be more than 
ever with His people when He was going away 
from them till the end of the world; to multiply 
Himself on earth when He was gone to heaven; 
and to consecrate the earth with the presence of 
His Body and Blood whan He was elevating 
them both to their place at the Bight Hand of 
the Father, and as it were leaving earth desolate 
and bare. *^ By the Incarnation," says Nouet, 



100 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH.; OR, 

"the Son of God, by a marvellous secret of wis- 
dom, found the means of making the invisible 
visible by covering Himself with our humanity, 
in order to converse freely with us; but in the 
Blessed Sacrament, by a no less marvellous in- 
vention, He makes the visible invisible, by cover- 
ing His Sacred Humanity with the appearances 
of bread and wine, that He may nourish us with 
His Flesh and Blood. In the mystery of the 
Incarnation He hides Himself that He may be 
seen; in the divine Eucharist He hides Himself 
that He may be eaten. In the first mystery He 
lets us see the sweetness of His divinity; in the 
second He lets us taste the sweetness of His 
Humanity. So again all the circumstances of 
the Blessed Sacrament are full of manifestations 
of His wisdom. The very concealment of His 
Flesh and Blood hinders our fear while it de- 
frauds us not of the reality of that stupendous 
food; and the very familiarity of the common- 
place species which He uses for His veils affords 
us delightful exercise of our spiritual discernment 
and our ardent faith, while He makes Himself 
easy of access to the. whole world by the cheap- 
ness and vileness of His diguise." 

The whole history of the Church may be 
viewed as in itself a vast and various procession, 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 101 

seen under all the vicissitudes of war, as a cara- 
van of pilgrim soldiers fighting their way from 
east to west. Now it is in little struggling bands 
with the Apostles on the Roman Roads, or now 
encamped with the obscure Proselytes of the 
Gate round the Jewish Synagogues in the Roman 
Provinces. Here we behold it, an army of mar- 
tyrs, with the Pontiff at its head in the dim 
chambers of the Catacombs; there it is out be- 
fore the world's eyes, all gleaming and glancing 
with the ensigns of imperial favor and command. 
One, wdn'le it is pushing its way across the desert 
to reach the un evangelized nations; another, while 
it is curbing the inundations of the barbarian 
North. Now it has absorbed the whole civilized 
world into itself and in its mediaeval splendors ; 
and again it is mingled with the unbelieving 
multitude, clearing for itself a passage through 
the crowd of base literatures, of wicked philoso- 
phies, of corrupted civilizations, and of debased 
diplomacies ; never lost to the eye, always cog- 
nizable, always suffering, always royal, always 
unlike anything else in the world, like the chil- 
dren of Israel in the Red Sea, when the solid 
waters stood up as a wall on their right hand and 
on their left. 

The procession of the Blessed Sacrament is a 



102 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

compendium of Church History. It is a dis- 
closure of the mind of the Church in all the 
vicissitudes of her warlike j^ilgrimage. It makes 
us feel as past ages have felt and as generations 
will feel in times to come ! It gives us a taste of 
her supernatural disposition, and helps power- 
fully to form the same disposition within our- 
selves. It is not the triumph of the Church 
because she has finally destroyed her enemies 
and is victorious. Every day is only bringing 
new enmities to view, and unmasking false 
friends. The whole of the extraordinary ver- 
satility of human wickedness is simply a work 
to harass and exhaust the Church by the multi- 
plicity and unexpectedness of its attacks. The 
empire of the demons abounds in fearful in- 
telligence, backed by no less fearful power, and 
the Church has to prove it all. There is not a 
change in the world's destinies which is not a 
fresh trial for the Church. There is not a new 
philosophy or a freshly-named science, but what 
deems, in the ignorance of its raw beginnings, 
that it will either explode the Church as false, 
or set her aside as doting. There is no new 
luxury of our modern capitals, but the devil or 
the world enter into it with a mysterious posses- 
sion, in order to make a charm of it against the 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 103 

Cliurcli and Iter mission to the souls of men. 
Heresy can be pious, reverent, pMlantliropic, 
a zealot for public morals, patriotic, liberal, con- 
ceding, if so only the Church can be wounded 
by the stratagem, No ! it would be premature 
indeed if at this day the Church should sing 
her paean because she has finally destroyed her 
enemies and is victorious. 

Neither does she triumph because the Blessed 
Sacrament is to her a foretaste of the Joys of 
heaven and of its eternal satisfactions. Men do 
not triumph in anticipations, and the feast of 
victory must be something more pleasant than 
the ardor of desire* Nay, truly, if I shall not 
seem to be uttering a conceit, I will say that 
this one day is the only day in the year in which 
she does not seem to think of heaven ; rather, 
she acts as if it had come to her, and she need- 
ed not to go to it. And this brings me at once 
to the real cause of her spiritual triumph. It 
is because she has Jesus Himself with her, the 
Living God, in the Blessed Sacrament, It is no 
commemoration of Him; it is HimseK. It is 
no part of the mystery of the Incarnation; it is 
the whole mystery, and the Incarnate One 
Himself. Ifc is not simply a means of grace ; it 
is the Divine Fountain of Grace Himself. It 



104 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

is not merely a help to glory; it is the glorijfied 
Redeemer Himself, and the owner and source 
of all glory. The Blessed Sacrament is God in 
His mysterious, miraculous veils. It is this 
real presence of God which makes Catholicism 
a religion quite distinct from any of the so-called 
forms of Christianity, It is this possession of 
her God which is of necessity the life-long tri- 
umph of the Church. Nothing short of this 
could be a real or sufficient triumph to the 
Bride of Christ. 

Frederick William Faber, D, D., 

The Blessed Sacrament 



LETTER OF THE REV. M. LAVAL. 



He who addresses you, my Brethren, was 
brought up as you have been, in the bosom of 
Protestantism, and, commissioned for many years 
to instruct you, has sought in vain for that repose 
of conscience which cannot be found out of the 
way of Salvation. Convinced that an indiffer- 
ence for the true faith is, in reality, but a con- 
tempt for God himself, he could never find peace, 
so long as he was uncertain of possessing that 
faith; but the more sensibly he felt the want of 
knowing it, the more disconsolate he was to find 
in Protestantism an uncertainty without end. 
He applied to reason, but reason, left to itself, 
wandered from doubt to doubt: he had recourse 
to the Bible, but this divine book could no long- 
er anchor his faith, because reason, weak and 
wavering in itself, was his only interpreter. He, 
unhappy not to find in his own judgment a cer- 
tain rule of faith, sought it elsewhere; Protes- 
tantism presented on every side but a frightful 
confusion of contradictory opinions, which 



106 COIS'QITESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

plunged him into an abyss of perplexity. He 
remarked that in France, Switzerland, Germany, 
England, and wherever Protestants are to be 
found, they, and particularly their Ministers, are 
continually tossed by every wind of doctrine, 
without the possibility of agreeing in one single 
point; differing in all except in doubt. Such 
was the distressed situation to which Protestan- 
tism had reduced him: in himself he felt the 
most distressing anxiety; his appeal to others 
only served to increase it. 

It is easy to conceive what anguish a Christian 
heart must endure, when, aspiring to a knowledge 
of Truth with all the ardor that an affair of 
such importance can inspire, it finds itself im- 
merged, in spite of all its efforts, in overwhelm- 
ing darkness. How often have I been excited to 
beseech of God that He would reveal to me His 
truths, or free me from the desire of knowing 
them. Was this desire which He kindled in my 
heart only to render me unhappy? Should I ex- 
tinguish it in my soul? Should I, by renouncing 
truth, fly from it, far from God, in a state of 
stupid carelessness? Such was the fatal term to 
which doubt had conducted me; and without di- 
vine grace I could not have delivered myself 
from its torture, but by seeking, in indifference, a 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINOUISHED CONVERTS. 107 

frightful peace. Praise be to that Being who, 
ever faithful to those who put their trust in him, 
has not permitted me to fall into such an abyss. 
I always held in horror this indifference, which 
is as absurd as it is culpable. There are some, I 
know, who suffer themselves to be deceived by it 
during this short period of life; but I could 
never thus forget the day of awful retribution. 

Thus, equally incapable of renouncing Truth, 
and of finding it out of the Church, I was at- 
tracted by the weight of my sufferings, to the 
bosom of this common parent of all Christians, 
who received, from the divine mouth of Jesus, the 
words of eternal life, which commanded her to 
teach all nations, even to the consummation of 
the world."^ What was the object of my desires ? 
What was I seeking? Condemned to unavoidable 
doubts and uncertainties by desiring, according 
to the principles of Protestantism, to become 
myself the author and arbiter of my faith, I felt 
the absolute necessity of a permanent authority, 
to determine the True Faith. This authority 
should exist somewhere, since it is necessary. I 
need only to raise my eyes, and I behold it in 
the centre of the Universe. The Catholic Church, 



St. Mathew, chap. XXVIII, v. 19 and 20. 



108 co:n^quests of our holy faith; or, 

the only Church in creation, has this authority. 
She alone has invariably exercised it: conse- 
quently, it is there alone that I shall find faith, 
peace, and life: deprived of all this happiness, 
by having sought the truth in the pride of self- 
opinion, how could I hesitate to enter by the way 
of humility, into the possession of this same 
happiness, and submit my weak reason to the 
authority of the everlasting Church? 

At the commencement of my errors, the un- 
bounded confidence that I placed in my own 
sufficiency would never have suffered this sub- 
mission; but at length experience has radically 
cured me of it; and poor human reason does no 
longer pride itself, after having proved its own 
insufficiency. Like the prodigal Child, it is the 
excess of misfortune that disarms my presump- 
tion, and brings me to my own home. 

But 0^ the misery of the human heart, as void 
of good desires, as its reason is limited in under- 
standing! Truth shone before me : I was obliged 
to acknowledge it: but it had not as yet subdued 
my will. I had to suffer a dreadful combat with 
myself, the combat of conscience, which com- 
mands, and that of human interest, which checks 
the powers of man. Friends, whose displeasure 
I should incur by my conversion ; my family, 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS, 109 

whom, I must confess, it deprived of the means 
of subsistence; this miserable shame to renounce 
my errors, to abandon a sect of which I had been 
the leader, opposed to sovereignty ^f Truth. God 
permitted that it should be so, to deliver me from 
the tyranny of pride, by manifesting to me my 
weakness; for this struggle against the known 
truth humbled me still more than my ignorance 
and doubt could have done, and made me under- 
stand how easily man is deceived in the secret 
motives which retain him in those unhappy sects, 
where the conscience is never satisfied. I prayed 
to God to strengthen me in my determination, as 
he had enlightened my understanding, and He 
took pity on me. Moved by His sacred grace, I 
exclaimed, I will^ O Lord; and the sacrifice was 
consummated. 



THE COGENCY 
OF THE VISIBLE CHURCH. 



The Church is in the midst of them. Her 
voice is no longer faintly heard in desolate and 
secret places, but calls to them from the house- 
tops, and her form is all but visibly revealed in 
the streets and lanes of the city. She tells them 
with a firm and loving voice— in tones as full of 
anxiety for men's souls, as they are clear and 
peremptory in witnessing to the one only true 
and unchanging faith — ^that they are fighting 
against the truth which they think they are de- 
fending, and violating the unity of Christ's 
body while deprecating and condemning, the 
guilt of schism. On every side are heard 
earnest voices, saying that faith is impossible ex- 
cept in the Catholic Church; that Anglicanism, 
as such, is a fatal heresy touching the essentials 
of salvation; that it puts an abstract Catholicism 
in the place of the Catholic Church; makes it a 
thing of the past, instead of an ever subsisting 
reality; deprives it of its utterance, its authority, 
even its visible existence; dissolves the very 



testimo:n^ies of distinguished coi^verts. Ill 

groundwork of all positive teaching; robs faith 
of its object, and simplicity of its guide, and 
obedience of its director; sets men up to be 
judges of truth, instead of teachable children; 
imposes upon them the task of informing their 
instructor, infusing life into their parent. Catho- 
licising that body, which in terms they confess to 
he the Catholic Church — as from some superior 
and external source residing in themselves — and 
of investing it with such a character and power 
as shall make it in the end a safe and practical 
authority; leaving, meanwhile, the little ones of 
Christ to invent their own rule, and to frame 
their own creed, as though it were a matter of 
nice calculation between fallible and erroneous 
systems, what each should adopt on the one side, 
and reject on the other: in short, that it main- 
tains the very evils which its own defenders so 
unsparingly denounce — "destroys dogmatic faith 
altogether," "breaks up the visible unity of the 
Church of Christ into a multitude of atoms," 
and substitutes "the confusion of Babel," for "the 
unity of Pentecost." 

This is the charge ; and being sucli, it cannot 
be too strongly stated. Earnest minds, which 
love the truth, and are ready to sacrifice every- 
thing for its sake, will bear to have it plainly 



112 CONQUESTS OF OUK HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

spoken. Men who feel that Christianity is a 
Revelation from God, and that the work which 
Christ wrought on the earth was a perfect work, 
and the faith He delivered a definite faith, and 
the Church He established an indefectible Churchy 
must be wearied with a state of controversv, and 
doubt, and speculation, as being irreligious and 
unchristian. They must be suspicious of every 
new theory which is propounded for the purpose 
of reconciling the nationality of the Anglican 
Communion with the idea of Catholicity, and 
the notion of a divided Church with the doctrine 
of its visible and essential unity. Such as these 
I would earnestly entreat to consider the Catho- 
lic idea of the Church. Whatever difficulties 
they may experience at present respecting par- 
ticular doctrines and practices, they cannot fail 
to perceive that that idea is complete and com- 
prehensive, while the Anglican is inconsistent 
and self-contradictory. Now, of the truth of a 
doctrine there can be no proof more conclusive 
than that of its inward completeness. Falsehood 
may exhibit on the surface an apparent consistency, 
but inconsistent, at least, the truth cannot be. 
They, therefore, who are intellectually convinced 
that the arguments which are commonly alleged 
in defence of their position are weak and incon- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTII^GUISHED CONYEETS. 113 

elusive, and that the theories which Anglicanism 
obliges them to substitute for the simple Catholic 
idea, though ingeniously compacted in parts, are 
incapable of general application, and composed 
of irreconcilable elements — nay, inyolve princi- 
ples which are merely Protestant, heretical, and 
even immoral — are bound in all honesty to aban- 
don a system so manifestly false, and to pass into 
that which, so far at least, carries with it the evi- 
dence of truth, as it is consistent throughout and 
perfect as a whole. 

This, in itself^ is sufficient to form ground of 
conviction, and to impose a corresponding obli- 
gation. What stronger moral evidence can they 
need, or what clearer intellectual proof do they 
think they will attain, so long as they stand in- 
vestigating from without? They have already 
all the demonstration which is ordinarily com- 
patible with their state. If there be a vast sys- 
tem of manifold and complicated action, the 
application to which of one great simple principle 
supplies the interpretation of all its combined 
and apparently contradictory movements, re- 
ducing all to perfect harmony, accounting for all 
anomalies, and showing that which seemed ex- 
ceptional to be subject to a general law; and if, 
on the other hand, all other principles fail in 



114 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

their application, and require the help of arbi- 
trary suppositions in order to meet the difficulties 
which they are inadequate to explain — such a 
principle as the former, has in its favor all the 
moral evidence, and carries with it all the force 
of conviction, which alone is attainable while 
viewing the system from without. If, in the case 
of natural phenomena, we consider such evidence 
as not only sufficient, but even irresistible, are 
not they reprehensible who, in spiritual matters, 
refuse their assent to analogous proof, and require 
such demonstration as it is vain to expect and 
presumptuous to await? May they not be bring- 
ing upon themselves the awful rebuke of our 
Lord to the unbelieving Jews, ^'Ye can discern 
the face of the sky, and of the earth: but how 
is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and 
why even of yourselves judge ye not what is 
right?'^ (Luke xii. 56, 57.) 

Only let them act in this as they act in com- 
mon matters, as they would have those act whom 
they believe to be dissenters and schismatics, and 
they will accomplish by faith what they will 
never arrive at by reasoning alone, though they 
spend their life in the endeavor. To the assur- 
ance of conviction God, in His mercy and for 
Jesus' sake, will add the grace of conversion; 



TE&TIMO]SriES OF DISTINGUISHED COlSrYERTS. 115 

and all their moral being will be at unity with 
itself. Wondering in themselves how their de- 
liverance was wrought, so strange beyond all that 
they expected, they will feel that, while con- 
sciously but following the conclusions of their 
own reason, or the suggestions of their conscience, 
and exerting the power of their own will, they 
were being guided and led forward by a Hand 
Invisible. With awe they will perceive that 
what seemed to them the last concluding step in 
a continuous self-directed course, was indeed an 
act of Divine power and mercy, by which they 
were lifted up and transported into another and 
higher sphere. As they look back, and try to 
recollect the point far beneath them in the dis- 
tance at which their foot last rested, they will see 
that, between it and the eminence on which they 
stand, there exists no mere natural connection; 
that something has supervened — something of 
the Eternal and the Infinite-so imperfect were their 
perceptions, so inadequate their motives, as com- 
pared with all that experience now shows them 
of the glorious objects, to which they had thought 
themselves so close. I speak not of the ineffable 
gifts of God, the graces of His holy sacraments, 
the treasures of His indulgent love, the powerful 
advocacy of His saints, or the miraculous signs 



116 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

that still follow them that believe, nor of the 
peace of conscience, the confidence of hope, the 
satisfaction of desire, with which experience of 
the Church's supernatural power and wisdom will 
fill and enlarge their hearts. I speak of the as- 
surance of faith which will be theirs in the pres- 
ence of an authoritative teacher, and the posses- 
sion of the key that lays open the secrets of 
heavenly knowledge. They will find themselves 
in a region reaching up into infinity, on all sides 
boundless and immeasurable; where is the widest 
compass for thought and amplest freedom of 
speculation, yet where all is fixed, solid, inde- 
structible; — aland of beautiful and rich variety, 
where, as the eye becomes accustomed to the mar- 
vellous and hallowed light, far-reaching vistas at 
every step disclose themselves, and glimpses still 
appear of glorious tilings beyond, and every mi- 
nutest and remotest point is found by contempla- 
tion to contain a world of objects, each in itself 
again a very universe, and all harmoniously com- 
bined in perfect unity — a region in whose pure 
heavenly atmosphere heresy cannot live, but 
*^goes out," as being not of it, making itself mani- 
fest of what sort it is ; — a country whose language 
is Truth; where words express realities, not of 
the traditionary past or the imaginary future, but 



TESTIMOlSriES OF DISTHSTGUISHED COlSrVERTS. 117 

the actual and substantial present; where the 
teaching is one, as the Truth is one — where are 
to be heard ten thousand voices speaking one 
thint(, ten thousand organs of the same Divine 
mind and the same infallible judgment — in short, 
where the words of the holy Apostle are still 
fulfilled, and can never fail in their fulfilment: 
'' One Body, and one Spirit ; one Lord, one Faith, 
one Baptism, one God and Father of all, and 
through all, and in all," 

Almighty and everlasting God, whose judg- 
ments are- righteous and counsels unsearchable; 
who visitest the iniquity of the fathers upon the 
children, unto the third and fourth generation, 
and yet at length rememberest mercy; forgive, 
we beseech Thee, the sins of our forefathers, and 
turn away Thy wrath from their posterity; de- 
liver the ignorant from being seduced by false 
teachers, and the learned from being abused by 
their passions, and the whole nation from the 
spirit of contradiction, licentiousness, and discord; 
that, instead of so many divisions and changes in 
religion under Avhich they labor, they may be 
again restored to that imity of mind, steadiness 
of faith, and tranquillity of conscience, which is 
nowhere to be sought but in the communion of 
Thy Church, nor possible to be found but by the 



118 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

conduct of Thy grace. Through our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Amen. 

Edward Healy Thompson, 

Unity of the Episcopate. 



THE DOMINICAN ORDER. 



The Dominican Order has been the nurse, not 
only of sacred letters and pulpit eloquence, but 
of religious art. There is no one who travels, 
intelligently, through the beautiful cities of 
Italy, who does not search out the works of the 
lay Brother, ^'Fra Angelico da Fiesole/' or the 
Angelical Brother, also called the Blessed 
Angelico ; and the eye turns from the master- 
pieces of Raphael himself to the celestial 
visions of the Dominican Friar, fixed on the 
panel or the wall. Fra Angelico illuminated 
the choral books of the monastery, in v^hich he 
lived, in a manner to excite the admiration of 
all succeeding ages, and he also decorated with 
his inspired pencil, dipped, one might say, in 
the very colors of paradise, the tabernaoles and 
the altars, the chapter-room of the Order, and 
the cells of the religious. The favored breth- 
ren in that Florentine convent walked daily 
among those seraphic pictures, that seem, even 
in copies and engravings, to bring Heaven to 
earth. One of these pictures I find described 



120 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OB, 

in a way to quicken the most ardent desire in 
every soul, not only to see the picture, but to 
behold and participate in the joys it represents. 
As the object of this book is to rouse a lively 
interest, not only in sacred literature, but also 
in sacred art, I do not hesitate to copy out for 
you this description, by one who, himself a 
Dominican, has written two choice volumes on 
the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects of his 
noble Order. The writer says that this picture 
which he is describing is really made up of 
three, the Last Judgment occupying the middle 
and largest of the three arches. On the left of 
the Last Judgment Fra Angelico painted Hell ; 
yet the gentle spirit of the good friar could not 
bring itself to express the casting away of the 
wicked by their Omnipotent Judge, in any 
other way than by a wave of the hand and a 
face turned away from those whose hearts had 
been turned away from Him; from Him who 
was alone worthy of being their joy. But 
'' where the painter triumphs, and establishes 
his title to the name of Angelico, with which 
the people honored him, is on the right side of 
the picture, where we behold the elect. Who 
can see these graceful little figures and not be 
enamored of virtue ? Who is it that does not 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 121 

yearn to taste the holy and ineffable joys of 
those blessed beings who, having* fought the 
good fight, and completed the term of their 
exile, are now approaching their true country, 
to enjoy tiiat reward for which they have longed, 
and for the sake of which they have suffered 
so many afflictions? They all have their 
eyes and arms turned towards their Redeemer, 
and they seem to bless and thank Him for hav- 
ing placed them among His elect. But more 
charming than even this, are the kisses and em- 
braces which the elect interchange with 
the angels who protected and guided them on 
the path of peril, as, kneeling", they clasp each 
other in heavenly affection. These greetings 
ended, we see them linking hands and graceful- 
ly dancing on a sweet meadow, enameled with 
the most beauteous flowers. Their garments 
glisten with innumerable little stars ; the head 
of each is wreathed w^ith a garland of white and 
red roses, whilst a brilliant little flame burns on 
the forehead of each angel. Then, light, airy, 
graceful, and even during the dance, absorbed 
in ecstatic contemplation, caroling and sing- 
ing, they advance towards the celestial Jerusa- 
lem ; and the nearer they approach to it, the 
more etherial and luminous do their bodies 



122 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

become, till at last, arrived at the gates of the 
holy city, they appear to be transmuted into 
the most subtle and resplendent spirits, and 
then, two by two, holding each other's hand, 
they are introduced into eternal beatitude.'' 
Is there a little heart, on the whole world round, 
that would not follow in that train of angels 
and saints, and enter with them the gates of 
eternal bliss ? 

I have already spoken of another picture by 
Fra Angelico, the Coronation of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary, into which he introduced the like- 
ness of St. Dominic and of many others. He 
painted this subject, '' The Coronation," several 
times, and always with the most entrancing 
beauty of expression, 

Fra Bartolommeo, another religious painter 
of great merit, is claimed by the Dominicans, 
He was not only a friar, but a preaching friar, 
and we read in the Dominican annals that he 
was the pastor of a parish, and often laid down 
his palette and brushes to attend the wants of 
his people. But besides this Fra Bartolommeo 
there was another, called Fra Bartolommeo 
della Porta, and this last is the one most gen- 
erally known and spoken of. To him we owe 
the St. Stephen which illustrates this volume. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 123 

In my portfolio is a large photograph fi'om Fra 
Bartolommeo's sketch of the evangelist, St. 
Mark, from the very drawing made by his own 
hand. It brings the great painters very near to 
us when we can see a perfect sun-picture of their 
sketches. The pictures of Fra Bartolommeo 
are eagerly sought for, both in color and en- 
gravings. 

But it is not by painting and sculpture alone, 
that the Order of St. Dominic has helped to 
civilize the most polished nations. To the 
Dominican architects we owe some of the no- 
blest edifices in Italy, besides those famous 
bridges that, from age to age, one after another, 
have spanned the river Arno, at Florence; and, 
so long as the beautiful church of San Maria 
Novella is the pride of Florence, the names of 
the Florentine Dominicans, Fra Sisto and Fra 
Ristoro, wall prove how much the world of art 
and of beauty is indebted to the Order of St, 
Dominic. 

There is still another debt of gratitude which 
we, as Americans, owe to St. Dominic and to 
his Order, a debt specially our own. 

After the discovery of America by that saintly 
navigator, Christopher Columbus, great pains 
were taken by Columbus, and by the ecclesias- 



124 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

tical authorities of Spain, to fulfil the highest 
wish of the heart of the pious discoverer ; which 
was, to cany the knowledge of Christ to the 
nations sitting in darkness. If you open any 
good history of America, you will see the name 
of Father Bartholomew Las Casas; you will 
also read Tiow much he did for the poor Indians, 
who, to the horror and grief of Columbus, were 
actually made slaves by the avaricious cruelty 
of those stronger and more civilized races who 
came to the Islands after they were discovered. 
Las Casas did not hesitate to protest against 
this monstrous injustice, this perfidy and bad 
faith, on the part of the whites. He made four 
voyages to Spain in behalf of the oppressed 
Indians, pleaded their cause before courts and 
monarchs, and brought this crying wrong to the 
notice of Cardinal Ximenes ; and all these things 
coming to the ears of the Pope, Paul IIL, he 
pronounced "<2 sentence of excommunication 
against all those who shonld malce slaves of the 
Indians^ or deprive them of their goods^ For 
sixty years Las Casas labored for their rights 
as men, for their souls as heirs of heaven ; and 
to this day, we, as Americans, owe to Las Casas, 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 125 

the Dominican friar, that the curse of the en- 
slaved Indian is not resting upon us. 

Eliza Allen Starr, 

Patron Saints. 



CONVERSION OF HERMANN COHEN. 



Born of Jewish parents, I was early launched 
into the profession of music. I was scarcely 
twelve when I gave my first concert. Alas! 
God permitted me to obtain a kind of triumph, 
and my young brain was quite intoxicated. I 
came to Paris in 1834, and there I became the 
spoilt child of the musical world. I was cast 
amongst unbelievers ; and as they fancied they 
saw in me an apt and ready apprehension, they 
soon indoctrinated me with all the horrible de- 
lusions then in vogue; atheism and pantheism, 
communism and socialism, the right of insur- 
rection and the massacre of the rich, abolition 
of marriage, and the enjoyment in common of 
all property and all pleasures — these were the 
habitual thoughts and themes of a lad of four- 
teen. Evil thrives apace, and I was soon one 
of the most ardent and zealous of those w^ho had 
sworn thus to renew the face of the earth — the 
Benjamin, the beloved son, of these modern pro- 
phets of a so-called civilization. 

I was surfeited with success, and a proficient 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 127 

in every kind of vice. ^'The briers of unclean 
desires grew rank over my head, and no hand 
was put forth to root them out.'' "^ In company 
with a distinguished artist, who was at once my 
master and my friend, I travelled over England 
and Switzerland, Italy and Germany, more en- 
amoured than ever of my philosophical novel- 
ties, and gaining everywhere success in my art, 
and proselytes to the poisonous doctrines on 
which my youth had been fed. Priests were 
to me at that time antisocial beings ; and I re- 
garded monks with a special horror, just as 
though they were cannibals. Who would have 
dared to predict that, on my way to Paris, God 
had decreed to show in me from what a distance 
He can recall a wandering creature ? 

The month of May was celebrated \\dth great 
solemnity in the church of St. Valere ; choirs of 
amateurs were formed under the direction of 
the Prince de la Moskowa, and they sang and 
chanted at the Benediction, One evening the 
prince, whom I had the honor of knowing, 
begged me to take his place at St. Valere. I 
went, with no other thought than the love of 
my art and the pleasure of doing a kindness. 



* St. Augustine's Confessions, lib. ii. ch. 3. 



128 CONQUESTS OF OUB HOLY FAITH; OR, 

During the ceremony I felt nothing unusual; 
but when the moment of benediction came, al- 
though I had not the slightest thought of prostrat- 
ing myself, I felt within me an unwonted agita- , 
tion. My soul, stunned and bewildered by the 
whirl of my pleasures, came to itself; I felt that 
something hitherto unknown to me was taking 
place within me. I was unconsciously, and 
without any concurrence of my own will, con- 
strained to bow myself. The foUo^ying Friday 
I was affected in precisely the same manner, and 
I was suddenly impressed with the idea of be- 
coming a Catholic. A few days after this I was 
passing the same church; the bell was ringing 
for Mass ; I went and heard the Mass, motion- 
less and attentive ; I heard one Mass, two Masses, 
three, four Masses, without thinking of leaving 
the church ; I could not conceive what held me 
there. In the evening I felt myself drawn again 
by a kind of spell to the same church; again 
the bell was ringing, again I entered. The 
Blessed Sacrament was exposed ; and no sooner 
did I see it, than I was drawn gently towards 
the communion rail, and fell on my knees, I 
prostrated myself, without effort of my own, at 
the momcDt of benediction ; and on raising my 
head again, I felt a sweet and gentle repose in 



TESTIMOlSriES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 129 

my whole soul. I went home, and tried to 
sleep; but all night long the Blessed Sacrament 
was before my eyes. I felt a burning desire to 
hear Mass again, and I heard many with an in- 
terior Joy which absorbed all my faculties. 
Then, urged by the grace which had so unex- 
pectedly touched my heart, I went to Madame 
la Duchesse de Kauzan, and begged her to in- 
troduce me to a priest. She referred me to M. 
TAbbe Legrand, who took a great interest in 
my statement, and lent me an exposition of the 
Catholic faith. At this time I had to give some 
concerts at Ems, in Germany. There, at a dis- 
tance from my old friends, human respect re- 
strained me no longer; and the first Sunday, 
August 8th, 1847, 1 received the gift of a super- 
natural contrition; the grace of God came down 
upon me in its fulness of might. At the mo- 
ment of the Elevation my tears began to flow 
abundantly, and with a feeling of intense pleas- 
ure and relief. O blessed moment, moment for- 
ever memorable to me ! Even now I implore 
God to grant that the exquisite memory of that 
moment may be for ever graven on my heart 
with the ineffaceable characters of a faith 
superior to every shock, and a gratitude com- 
mensurate with the blessings with which He 



130 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

then deigned to inundate me. I felt then, with- 
out doubt, what St. Augustine felt in his garden 
at Cassiacum, when he heard the words, Tolle, 
lege; what jou must have felt, my dear father,^ 
in that church at Rome, when the Blessed Virgin 
condescended to appear to you. I remember 
well the tears of my childhood; but never, 
never have I shed tears like them. As they 
streamed over my face, I felt in the very depth 
of my soul the gnawing sting of my conscience? 
and a piercing, rending, crushing remorse for the 
sins of my past life. Suddenly and spontane- 
ously, a^] it were by intuition, I began to offer 
to God a general confession of all my enormous 
offences ; I saw them there, spread out before 
me, thousands and tens of thousands, hideous, 
repulsive, revolting, deserving all the anger of 
my just Judge. And yet I felt a mysterious 
tranquillity of soul, like a soothing balm, poured 
over all its wounds : a something that assured 
me that the God of mercy would pardon all my 
sins , that he would accept in pity my contri- 
tion, my bitter sorroW; my strenuous repentance. 
Yes, I resolved then to love Him above all 
things ; when I left that church of Ems I was 

* Pere Ratisbonne. 



TESTIMOIS^IES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 131 

already a Christian — a Christian as far as one 
can be before holy Baptism. 

Hermann was baptised on the 28th August, 
1847, the feast of St, Augustine. The cere- 
mony was performed by M, Legrand, in the 
chapel of Notre Dame de Sion, Rue du Regard 
— the chapel of the community of converts from 
Judaism, over which M. Ratisbonne presides. 
He speaks thus of his baptism in the letter to 
M. Ratisbonne, from which we have already 
quoted : * 

While the priest was pouring the sacred water 
on my brow, and naming the name of the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost, my whole frame quivered 
as beneath a shock of electricity. The eyes of 
my body were closed, but at that instant the 
eyes of my newly-born Christian soul opened 
to a supernatural clearness of illumination. 
Your practised soul will comprehend my mean- 
ing in Godj as we love one another in Jesus 
Christ ; for I feel a sweet tranquility, a perfect 
peace, the rest of a child in its mother's bosom. 

Admitted at length to the heavenly banquet, 
I drew thence an unknown energy. That 
flesh divine transformed me into a new man ; 



^ Life of Fr. Hermann, in religion, Augustin- Marie du Tres — 

Saint — Sacrament . 



132 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

that talisman preserved me in the assaults of a 
tempting world; that treasure detached me 
from all which before subjugated me with a 
master's hand. The hours of the day flew along 
too swiftly in gazing on Thee. Thou didst draw 
me toward Thyself with an attraction so mighty, 
with a charm so sweet, so tender, so loving, that 
the last link that bound me to earth was snap- 
ped in twain ; and I ran far from the busy city 
to throw myself into Thine arms, to live entirely 
to Thee, with no divided love, forever ! 



LETTER OF 

MRS. ELIZABETH BAYLEY SETON TO 

THE ABBE CHEVERUS. ^ 



New York, 30th March, 1805. 
Rev. and Dear Sir, — 

My heart offers you the tribute of its lively 
gratitude for your kind aud charitable interest 
in its sorrows when I was oppressed with doubts 
and fears, and hastens, after the completion of 
its happiness, to inform you, that, through the 
boundless goodness of God, and aided by your 
very satisfactory counsels, my soul offered all 
its hesitations and reluctances a sacrifice to God, 
and on the 14th of March was admitted to the 
true Church of Jesus Christ, with a mind grate- 
ful and satisfied as that of a poor shipwrecked 
mariner on being restored to his home. 

I should immediately have made a communi- 
cation so pleasing to you, but have been neces- 
sarily very much engaged in collecting all the 
powers of my soul to receive the pledge of eter- 



* Memoir, Letters, and Journal of Elizabeth Seton, Convert to the 
Catholic Faith, and Sister of Charity. Edited by the Right Rev. 
Monsignor Robert Seton, D. D. 



134 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

nal happiness with which it has been blessed on 
the happy day of the Annunciation. I seemed 
then to be admitted to a new life^ and to the 
'peace which passeth all understanding; and with 
David I now say, Thou hast saved my soul from 
deathy my eyes from tears^ and my feet from falL 
ing; and certainly most earnestly desire to walk 
before Him in the land of the living, esteeming 
my privilege so great, and what He has done 
for me so far beyond my most lively hopes, that 
lean scarce realize my own happiness. Pray 
for me, dear sir, that I may be faithful and per- 
severe to the end; and I would beg of you ad- 
vice and counsel how to preserve my inestimable 
blessing. There are many good books, it is true ; 
but directions personally addressed from a 
revered source most forcibly impress. For many 
years past I have preferred those chapters you 
appointed in St. John, but now (from your di- 
rection) I make it a constant rule to read them. 
The book you mentioned, " The Following of 
Christ," has been my consolation through the 
severest struggles of my life ; and, indeed, one 
of my first convictions of the truth arose from 
reflectino: on the account a Protestant writer 
gives of Kempis, as having been remarkable 
for his study and knowledge of the Holy Scrip- 



TESTIMOiaES OF DISTINGUISHED COlSr VERTS 135 

tures and fervent zeal in the service of God. 
I remember falling on my knees, once and, with 
many tears inquiring of God if he who knew 
His Scriptures so well, and so ardently loved 
Him, could have been mistaken in the true faith. 
Also, in reading the life of St. Francis de Sales, 
I felt a perfect willingness to follow him, and 
could not but pray that my soul might have its 
portion with his on the great day. The sermons 
of Bourdaloue have greatly helped to convince 
and enlighten me: one of them is always in- 
cluded in my daily devotions. These books 
and some others Mr. Filicchi, who has been the 
true friend of my soul, provided me with. If 
he did not encourage me, I do not know how 
I should dare to press such a long letter on 
your time, so fully and sacredly occupied. Par- 
don me in consideration of the relief it gives 
my heart to open itself to one who understands 
it, while it constantly prays that you may long 
be the instrument of God's glory, and the happi- 
ness of His creatures, 



THE CHURCH IN SCOTLAND. 



This fair land of yours Nature has chosen as the 
mirror of her beauty. She has planted it in the 
northern seas, with its mountains fronting the 
western sun, and watered its valleys and plains 
with a thousand streams. The lights of heaven 
are poured upon its lakes and glens with an il- 
lumination and a glory, with an entanglement 
and a mingling of all the hues that can make 
earth beautiful. There is no land in all the 
world, which, for the softer splendors of moun- 
tain and fell, wood and stream, surpasses Scot- 
land. Beautiful in nature, but once more beau- 
tiful in grace ! Witness the mighty churches, 
of which one now serves for thee ; witness the 
roofless abbeys in the low glades and valleys of 
the North ; witness the Lady-chapels, where the 
altars of Mary were lighted of old. The beauty 
of Jesus and Mary, the light and presence of 
the Incarnation was here. The illumination of 
the Word and the out-pouring of the Spirit were 
upon Scotland then. There was peace and there 
was charity, because there was truth, in those 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 137 

days ; there was heroism and tliere was saintli- 
ness, because Scotland then was within the unity 
of the Church of God. The word of the prophet 
Isaias was accomphshed in this land. But there 
came a time of rude change, when the union of the 
Spirit and the Word was broken ; when those 
which Grod had joined together were divorced 
by the will of men ; when the rebellious in- 
tellect of man rose up against the divine voice 
of the Church of God, and rejected the guidance 
of the spirit, because he should not bow to any 
teacher. 

Then came another change : when men re- 
jected the divine voice by the strugghngindocil- 
ity of their will, the word departed from their 
lips. They clutched at it with jealousy, and 
they found in their hands the written word 
alone : Litera occidit, spiritus auteyn vivijicaL^ 
The letter that killeth was left behind, the spirit 
that giveth life departed. The word was inter- 
preted no more by the light of the Holy Ghost, 
no more by an infallible Guide, but by the in- 
terpretations of man and the light of the human 
intellect. Then came contradiction, struggle, 
and contention, and for three hundred years di- 



*ii. Cor. iii. 6. 



138 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

vision and subdivision, the crumbling of what 
was once the mystical body, so that there is now 
no land in all the world, save only England, 
which went abreast with Scotland in revolt, to 
be compared with Scotland for its religious dis- 
union. And in the train of these divisions came 
uncertainty, indifference, lukewarmness, and 
doubt, asking : '^ Who knows what is true ? — 
Whether is the truth on this side or that ? Who 
can tell ? Who is the judge ? " And in the train 
of indifference comes infidelity, saying: '^ Grod 
hath not said. Why believe this ^^ I will not 
believe that." The spirit of unbelief is rushing 
in through the breach as a flood, because the 
spirit and the word are divided, and the Voice 
and the Guide are gone : for the intellect of man 
and the will of man have assumed the sovereign- 
ty, and raised themselves up to be their own 
guide and light. Private judgment has taken 
the place of Jesus teaching in His Church. But 
God has not forsaken. He has not forgotten a 
land He once loved so much ; for all through 
these three dreary centuries of disunion, hid in 
the valleys, driven up into the mountains, and 
wandering in poverty, the Church has still 
guided the remnant of the flock. There has 
been the Word Incarnate upon the altar, the 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 139 

living word in the mouth of the pastor, the holy 
Sacrifice in the hands of the priest, the unction 
of the Holy Ghost on the one holy Church, re- 
duced to a handful, but still living on, Catholic 
and Roman in its divine prophetic perpetuity. 
Even here in Scotland, Vicars- Apostolic, the 
representatives of the Holy See, the special wit- 
nesses of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, consecrated 
by the Word, anointed by the Holy Ghost, 
throuo;h three centuries of desolation have ruled 
the Church of God. They have ordained and 
commissioned the priests of Jesus Christ, and 
have conferred on them the spirit of grace, and 
have put the word in their mouth. There has 
been the perpetuity of the one immutable faith 
and the one infallible voice, even in this land : 
and now, after three hundred years, when the 
order of all human events would require that a 
thing so feeble and weak should wax less and 
less, it is waxing stronger and stronger, it is 
growing mighty, it is multiplying on every side, 
enlarging its presence, putting on its majesty, 
coming forth in its beauty, and exhibiting its 
splendor, as it does this day, in a new sanctuary, 
reared and set apart in honor of the Immaculate 
Conception of the Mother of God. The Church 
of God is accomplishing these things ; and wh\' I 



140 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

Because the prophecy of Isaias rests upon it. 
This day, as in Nazareth, it is fulfilled in your 
ears. 

And there is another token now visible in 
this land. The saints of God, once so many and 
now so few, are returning. To number up the 
names of the saints of Scotland is rather a tax 
upon our ingenuity to find them than on the 
memory to recount them by name. The flood 
has gone over the earth, and the record of their 
names and tlieir sanctity is gone ; but in this 
dearth and barrenness they are coming back 
once more. St. Ignatius, with his soldier spirit, 
always first to volunteer on the forlorn hope, 
always first to scale the walls of a city sevenfold 
strong, is here. Then comes St. Vincent, who 
has filled the whole world with the perfume of 
his name, which, like the name of Jesus, from 
whence its sweetness is borrowed, is as an oint- 
ment poured forth. St. Vincent two centuries 
ago was here. In the din and conflict of Crom- 
well's days, when Scotland, bent under his rod 
of iron, lay crushed in three great battles — in 
the midst of that time came two fathers of St. 
Vincent, kindled with the charity of their great 
Saint. They came into your western islands, 
and there left behind them a seed which has 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 141 

never died, a light which has never been ex- 
tinguished. And now, through the generous 
hospitahty of one who has an eye to discern 
apostles in the garb of poverty, they are invited 
here once more with a munificence of faith and 
a largeness of charity which will write his name 
in the hearts of generations yet unborn. 

St. Vincent is come to-day to Lanark, and 
has gathered you together here ; and with you 
many are mingled who are not yet of you, but 
will be. He has come here once more with the 
majestic march of the holy Roman Church, with 
the same faith, the same seven sacraments, the 
same episcopal rule, the same pastoral staff, under 
which his sons went forth two hundred years 
ago. Once more in open day — in such a day as 
this — the holy Roman Church lifts up her tiara, 
and her infallible voice is heard. And there- 
fore may be said to Scotland what Jesus said to 
Jerusalem : " If thou also hadst known, and that 
in this thy day, the things that are for thy 
peace ; but now they are hidden from thine 
eyes." ^ And as He said in the Apocalypse, " Be 
mindful, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, 
and do penance, and do the first works ; or else 



St. Luke xix. 42. 



142 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

I will come to tliee, and will remove thy candle- 
stick out of its place, unless thou shalt have 
done penance.'' "^ 

These might well be the voices of warning to 
us to-day ; but they come to us also as accents of 
love and invitation. If the mighty energy of 
the will of this great Scottish people, even here 
in the narrow circle of the lowlands — if the 
mighty energy of will which has been applied to 
tlie conquest and the government of the world, 
which has filled the Western and Eastern Indies 
with its swa}^, which has built the might Baby- 
lon a few miles off, peopled by a lialf a million of 
toiling souls, who toil with a unity of power as 
if there was but one will to govern and direct 
tliem, wearing" themselves out, spending and 
being spent from sunrise to sunset for tliis per- 
ishing life — if that will were only sanctified, and 
tlmt intellect illuminated, if the unction of the 
spirit of God, and the truth of the Word of God, 
could once more be wedded together in the 
spiritual nature and life of the Scottish people, 
wliat a race of soldiers, of heroes, and saints of 
Jesus Christ should here arise ! And wlio 
knows what may be hereafter? You and I 
shall soon pass away ; but the work begun to- 

* Apoc. iv. 5. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 143 

day is a workthat will not pass away. It has 
the perpetuity of the Spirit and the Word ; and 
when we are gone, it will multiply and accom- 
plish itself. Generation after generation, Grod 
will make perfect His own. He will gather out 
His elect until the day shall come when He 
will be revealed with all His saints ; and out of 
this place there will ascend to meet Him souls 
whom you know not; and bright crowns shall 
be worn that day by those who have toiled for 
them, who have prayed for them, who have 
given alms for them, who have offered at the altar 
so much as one inspiration, one desire, that the 
AVord and the Spirit of God may come to-day in- 
to His sanctuary. The altar yonder was con- 
secrated yesterday, on the feast when we com- 
memorate the dedication of the greatest church 
in all the world — Omnntm JEcclesiarium Mater 
et Magistra, as it is inscribed in front of the 
great Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Cathedral 
Church of the Vicar of Jesus Christ. To-day 
we celebrate the feast of a saint "^ who, for his 
tender love of the Cross, took to himself the 
name of Andrew, dear to Scotland and to you. 
Yesterday and to-day will make but one yearly 



* St. Andrew Avellino. 



144 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

festival, uniting' once more in holy wedlock 
Scotland and Rome, in the Spirit and the Word, 
in the unity and infallibility of that one, only 
Church of God, which is the presence of Jesus 
Himself on earth. 

Cardinal Manning, 
Sermons on Ecclesiastical Subjects. 



THE CATHOLIC PILGRIM. 



Many of those whom I am addressing, are, 
I doubt not, acquainted with Wordsworth's 
beautiful poem, The Excursion, Let me for a 
moment suppose his Wanderer to be a Catholic 
instead of a Presbyterian, and let us accompany 
him through some of the scenes which the poet's 
imagination conjures up. In the morning, when 
he commences the labor and burden of the 
day,- 

From the naked top 
Of some bold headland, he beholds the sun 
Rise up and bathe the world in light ! 

As he gazes on the magnificent spectacle, 

Rapt into still communion, that transcends 
The imperfect offices of prayer and praise. 
His mind is a thanksgiving to the power 
That made him ; it is blessedness and love ! 

Into the inmost depths of his soul, as he pur- 
sues his daily course. 

The whispering air 
Sends inspiration from the shadowy heights 
And blind recesses of the caverned rocks. 

And in some sequestered spot, where the rocks 
shut out all outward objects but the azure sky, 
the solitary raven, with his iron knell, flying 



146 COIN^QUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

athwart the dark, blue dome, rouses within Mm 
devout aspirations, and gives him 

Far stretching views into eternity. 

The day wanes, and he passes from these 
valleys and craggy defiles into '^an elevated spot," 
where lie beholds the sun 

Sinking with less than ordinary state, 

but, as he sinks, kindling into blaze of light, 
^^through half the circle of the sky," the little 
floating clouds, which shed each on each, 

With prodigal communion, the bright hues, 
Which form the unapparent fount of glory 
They had imbibed, and ceased not to receive. 

His mind is filled with rapturous joy, and, fall- 
ing prostrate on the soft heath, there burst from 
him, in holy transport, this devout invocation 

Eternal Spirit ! Universal God ! 
. Power inaccessible to human thought. 

Save by degrees and steps which Thou hast deigned 
To furnish ; for this effluence of Thyself, 
To the infirmity of mortal sense 
.Vouchsafed, this local, transitory type 
Of Thy paternal splendors, and the pomp 
Of those who fill Thy courts in highest Heaven, 
The radiant Cherubim ; accept the thanks 
Which we. Thy humble creatures, here convened. 
Presume to offer ; we, who from the breast 
Of the frail earth permitted to behold 
The faint reflection only of Thy face, 
Are yet exalted, and in soul adore ! 

The world is covered with darkness, as the 
pilgrim still pursues his way. He beholds in 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 147 

the distance a little glimmering light among 
the trees. He turns aside into a by-road, and 
approaches an humble chapel, where holy men, 
set apart for the service of Grod, offer up pray- 
ers day and night unceasingly. Oppressed with 
fatigue and travel-stained, longing for the hour 
when the labor of the day shall cease, and he 
can betake himself to his humble bed, lie enters, 
and beneath a crucifix, whereon is contained an 
image of our Blessed Saviour suffering unut- 
terable agony for his redemption, he prostrates 
himself with the lowest humility, thanking God 
for the life and death of that Divine Teacher, 
who came to make a religion of sorrow and self- 
denial; and he passes onward, more refreshed 
and more strengthened against the murmurings 
and complainings of his nature by that symbol 
of his Redeemer's agony, than by all the splen- 
dors of the sun, all the glory of the heaven, 
all the divine magnificence of the earth. 

Fredrick Lucas, 
Beasonsfor Becoming a Boman Catholic, 
Addressed to the Society of Friends. 



THE BUREAUCRATIC STATE. 



The doctrine that the '' State " should bring 
about a certain condition of universal felicity, 
and should prosecute this ''State-object" at 
the cost of justice, necessarily led to the most 
various evils. The immediate effect of this 
doctrine was the necessity imposed on govern- 
ments of taking into their hands the actual con- 
duct, administration, and economy of all things, 
for only under this condition could they fulfil 
the task they had proposed, of conferring uni- 
vei'sal happiness, and only upon this condition 
could they be responsible for this engagement. 
From this necessity followed, as matter of course, 
the intrusion of the civil power into every 
sphere of life, tlie much-government and over- 
government, and again, the stifling of all free, 
independent life, in every department, and es- 
pecially the annihilation of all self-government 
or self-administration of diff'erent interests. All 
must emanate from and revert to the huge, all 
devouring body of the state, which a master ^ in 



Hobbes. 



TESTIMOJS^IES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 149 

the theory of this liberal absolutism fittingly 
termed " LeviathanP Hence was the church 
deprived of all free, independent action, of all 
self-government and administration of her 
affairs ; but her freedom was annihilated, either 
directly by the usurpation of ecclesiastical 
power on the part of the State, or in an indirect 
and covert way, by the pretended right of 
supervision, or protection, or prevention of so- 
called abuses. Hence no more freedom for 
civil corporations, but a rigid tutelage exerted 
by the state over all their internal concerns ; 
the destruction of their autonomy ; and the 
control over the management of their property, 
coupled with a thousand restrictions and limita- 
tions in its enjoyment and possession. Hence 
also the attempt from the same quarter to 
regulate by laws, and control by functionaries, 
private individuals in the management of their 
family concerns, to direct their household by 
the laws of political economy, to interfere with 
the education of their children. 

How much in this course of policy so pursued 
by the state the sanctity of right and personal 
liberty, in a certain sense identical with it, must 
suffer, is evident of itself. But even by the total 
annihilation of individual freedom, the object 



150 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

sought for — the happiness of all — would not be 
attained. On the whole, it is beyond the power 
of human government to make men happy; at 
most it can, by the rights which it exercises, and 
the protection which it imparts, insure to the 
personal liberty of the individual a scope, within 
which the latter may provide for his material 
well-being. But happiness, so far as it can exist 
on earth, can come only from above, and is a 
blessing of God. But by government measures 
to make all happy, is one of the most absurd 
ideas that can be conceived; for the relations of 
men in society are so peculiarly constituted, that 
a measure which, according to all appearance 
promotes the earthly prosperity of one individ- 
ual, obstructs, undermines, and destroys that of 
another. Those bound together by a common 
interest understand what can best forward it far 
better than all the functionaries of state, who 
would take it under their tutelary care. 

Dr. Charles Ernest Jarcke, 

Miscellaneous Writings. 



THE CHUECH AND THE BIBLE. 



For a Catholic, Holy Scripture possesses an 
incontestible certitude, as the Word of God, be- 
cause it is secured to him as such by the Church, 
which Christ ordered to teach, promising that 
He himself would remain always ivith Iter dur- 
ing that teachingo Therefore, a CatlioliG has a 
sound reason for the respect with which he treats 
that precious treasure, which cannot be taken 
from him either by the arbitrariness of the Re- 
formers or by the insolence of false science. And 
as his intellectual poAvers and his position enable 
him, he exerts himself, according to the admoni- 
tion of the Council of Trent, to use that treasure 
for the benefit of his soul and the increase of his 
knowledge of divine truth. Those who desire 
to know how entirely unfounded is the charge 
made against the Church of trying to prevent 
her children from reading Holy Scripture, be- 
cause she has taken prudent measures, in behalf 
of ignorant people, to prevent abuse of that 
reading, — may consult Catholic authors upon 
this subject. But the faith of Catholics does not 



152 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

depend upon the Bible only, or even primariljc 
That faith existed before a single part of the 
New Testament was written, long before the col- 
lection of sacred books was completed, and much 
longer hefore it generally was accepted and pub- 
licly authorized by the Church. That faith, 
moreover, would remain immutable and unshaken, 
even could the Bible disappear from the earth. 
The contents of Holy Scripture form a principal 
and most important ^(^^r^ of the teachings which 
a Catholic receives from the Church, just as the 
epistles of the Apostles formed an important 
part of the teachings they imparted to the pri- 
mitive Christians. The Apostles, however, did 
not write everything they taught, and referred 
pinncipall y io their oral teaching; they did not 
command their successors to oblige each of the 
faithful to read their epistles, but instructed them 
to hand down faithfully what they had been 
taught to other faithful people, who in their turn 
might be able to teach others (2 Tim. ii, 2). In 
this manner has the Church always understood 
and discharged her duty. 

The Catholic Church is to all her children 
a loving mother, who nourishes everybody accord- 
ing to his personal wants, and yet gives to all 
the same food; a mother, at whose bosom the 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVEKTS. 153 

child and the philosopher, the laborer and the 
statesman, the least civilized Indian and the man 
of the highest education, the spotless virgin and 
the deeply fallen sinner, can find refreshment, 
SLich as each individually needs, and be abun- 
dantly satisfied ; a mother, who from the infinite 
variety of her treasures grants to all the poor, 
that is to say, to all men, the same riches ; who 
teaches one in the lano-uaofe of his otvn heart, 
and yet imparts to all the same words of life; 
and who conducts each by his otvn way, and yet 
leads all to one faith, one hope, one salvation. 
Is a book able to do this ? 

H. A. Des Amrie Vander hoeven, 

My Beiurn to the Church of Christ. 



THE RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF 
ENGLAND. 



It is an old story and a familiar, and I need 
not go through it, I need not tell you, how sud- 
denly the word of truth came to our ancestors in 
this island and subdued them to its gentle rule; 
how the grace of God fell on them, and, without 
compulsion, as the historian tells us, the multi- 
tude became Christian; how, when all was tem- 
pestuous, and hopeless, and dark, Christ, like a 
vision of glory, came walking to them on the 
waves of the sea. Then suddenly there was a 
great calm; a change came over the pagan people 
in that quarter of the country where the gospel 
was first preached to them ; and from thence the 
blessed influence went forth; it was poured out 
over the whole land, till, one and all, the Anglo- 
Saxon people were converted by it. In a hun- 
dred years the work was done; the idols, the 
sacrifices, the mummeries of paganism flitted 
away and were not, and the pure doctrine and 
heavenly worship of the Cross were found in 
their stead. The fair form of Christianity rose 



TESTIMOiaES OF BISTI]S^GUISHED CONVERTS. 155 

up, and grew, and expanded like a beautiful pa- 
geant from north to south; it wasmajestic, it was 
solemn, it was bright, it was beautiful and pleas- 
ant, it was soothing to the griefs, it was indulgent 
to the hopes of man; it was at once a teaching 
and a worship; it had a dogma, a mystery, a 
ritual of its own; it had an hierarchical form. 
A brotherhood of holy pastors, with mitre, and 
crosier, and uplifted hand, walked forth and 
blessed and ruled a joyful people. The crucifix 
headed the procession, and simple monks were 
there with hearts in prayer, and sweet chants re- 
sounded, and the holy Latin tongue was heard, 
and boys came forth in white, swinging censers, 
and the fragrant cloud arose, and Mass was sung, 
and the saints were invoked; and day after day, 
and in the still night, and over the woody hills, 
and in the quiet plains, as constantly as sun and 
moon and stars go forth in heaven, so regular 
and solemn was the stately march of blessed 
services on earth, high festival, and gorgeous 
procession, and soothing dirge, and passing bell, 
and the familiar etening call to prayer; till he 
who recollected the old pagan time would think 
it all unreal that he beheld and heard, and would 
conclude he did but see a vision, so marvellously 
was heaven let down upon earth, so triumphantly 



156 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

were chased away the fiends of darkness to their 
prison below. 

Such was the change which came over our 
forefathers; such was the rehgion bestowed upon 
them, bestowed on them as a second grant, after 
the grant of the territory itself; nay, it might 
almost have seemed as the divine guarantee or 
pledge of its occupation. And you know its 
name; there can be no mistake; you know what 
that religion was called. It was called by no 
modern name — for modern religions then were 
not. You know ivhat religion has priests and 
sacrifices, and mystical rites, and the monastic 
rule, and care for the souls of the dead, and the 
profession of an ancient faith, coming, through 
all ages, from the Apostles. There is one, and 
only one such religion : it is known everywhere ; 
every poor boy in the street knows the name of 
it: there never was a time, since it first was, that 
its name was not known and known to the mul- 
titude. It is called Catholicism — a world-wide 
name, and incommunicable; attached tons from 
the first; accorded to us by our enemies; in vain 
attempted, never stolen from us, by our rivals. 
Such was the worship which the English people 
gained when they emerged out of paganism into 
gospel light. In the history of their conversion. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED OONVEETS 157 

Christianity and Catholicism are one; they are 
in that history, as they are in their own nature, 
convertible terms. It was the Catholic faith 
which that vigorous young race heard and em- 
braced — that faith which is still found, the further 
you trace back towards the age of the Apostles, 
which is still visible in the dim distance of the 
earliest antiquity, and to which the witness of 
the Church, when investigated even in her first 
startings and simplest rudiments, "sayeth not to 
the contrary." Such was the religion of the 
noble English; they knew not heresy; and, as 
time went on, the work did but sink deeper into 
their nature, into their social structure and their 
political institutions; it grew with their growth, 
and strengthened with their strength, till a sight 
was seen — one of the most beautiful which ever 
has been given to man to see — what was great in 
the natural order made greater by its elevation 
into the supernatural. The two seemed as if 
made for each other; that natural temperament 
and that gift of grace; what was heroic, or gen- 
erous, or magnanimous in nature, found its cor- 
responding place or ofiice in the divine kingdom. 
Angels in heaven rejoiced to see the divinely 
wrought piety and sanctity of penitent sinners; 
Apostles, Popes, and Bishops, long since taken 



158 COJN^QUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

to glory, threw their crowns in transport at the 
foot of the throne, as saints, and confessors, and 
martyrs, came forth before their wandering eyes 
out of a horde of heathen robbers; guardian 
spirits no longer sighed over the disparity and 
contrast which had so fearfully intervened be- 
tween themselves and the souls given to them in 
charge. It did indeed become a peculiar, special 
people, with a character and genius of its own; 
I will say a bold thing — in its staidness, sagacity, 
and simplicity, more like the mind that rules, 
through all time, the princely line of Roman 
Pontiffs, than perhaps any other Christian people 
whom the world has seen. And so things went 
on for many centuries. Generation followed 
generation; revolution came after revolution; 
great men rose and fell ; there were bloody wars, 
and invasions, conquests, changes of dynasty, 
slavery, recoveries, civil dissensions, settlements; 
Dane and Norman overran the land; and yet 
all along Christ was upon the waters; and if they 
rose in fury, yet at His word they fell again and 
were in calm. The bark of Peter was still the 
refuge of the tempest-tost, and ever solaced and 
recruited those whom it rescued from the deep. 

But at length a change came over the land: a 
thousand years had well-nigh rolled, and this 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 159 

great people grew tired of the heavenly stranger 
who sojourned among them. They had had 
enough of blessings and absolutions, enough of 
the intercession of saints, enough of the grace of 
the sacraments, enough of the prospect of the 
next life. They thought it best to secure this 
life in the first place, because they were in posses- 
sion of it, and then to go on to the next, if time 
and means allowed. And they saw that to labor 
for the next world was possibly to lose this; where- 
as, to labor for this world might be, for what 
they knew, the way to labor for the next also. 
Anyhow, they would pursue a temporal end, and 
they would account any one their enemy who 
would stand in the way of their ]3ursuing it. It 
was a madness; but madmen are strong and mad- 
men are clever; so, with the sword and the halter, 
and by mutilation and fine and imprisonment, 
they cut ofi*, or frightened away from the land, 
as Israel did in the time of old, the ministers of 
the Most High, and their ministrations: they 
"altogether broke the yoke, and burst the bonds.'' 
"They beat one, and killed another, and another 
they stoned," and at length they altogether cast 
out the Heir from His vineyard, and killed Him, 
"that the inheritance might be theirs." And as 
for the remnant of His servants whom they left. 



160 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

they drove them into corners and holes of the 
earth, and there they bade them die out ; and 
then they rejoiced and sent gifts either to other, 
and made merry, because they had rid themselves 
of those "who had tormented them that dwelt 
upon the earth." And so they turned to enjoy 
this world, and to gain for themselves a name 
among men, and it was given unto them accord- 
ing to their wish. They preferred the heathen 
virtues of their original nature to the robe of 
grace which God had given them; they fell back 
with closed affections, and haughty reserve, and 
dreariness within, upon their worldly integrity, 
honor, energy, prudence, and perseverance; they 
made the most of the natural man, and they 
"received their reward.'* Forthwith they began 
to rise to a station higher than the heathen 
Roman, and have, in three centuries, attained a 
wide range of sovereignty; and now they look 
down in contempt on what they were, and upon 
the religion which reclaimed them from pagan- 
ism. 

Yes, such was the temptation of the evil one, 
such the fall of his victim, such the disposition 
of the Most High. The tempter said : "All these 
will I give thee, if, falling down, thou wilt adore 
me;" and their rightful Lord and Sovereign 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 161 

permitted the boast to be fulfilled. He permitted 
it for His neater o-lory : He mio-ht have hindered 
it, as He might hinder all evil; but He saw good. 
He saw it best to let things take their course ; 
He did not interfere ; He kept silence ; He retired 
from the land which would be rid of Him. And 
there were those at that crisis who understood 
not His providence, and would have interfered 
in His behalf with a high hand. Holy men 
and true they were, zealous for God, and tender 
towards His sheep; but they divined not His 
will. It was His will to leave the issue to time, 
and to bring things round slowly and without 
violence, and to conquer by means of His ad- 
versaries. He willed it that their pride should 
be its own correction ; that they should be broken 
without hands, and dissolve under their own in- 
sufficiency. He who might have brought myriads 
of Angels to the rescue. He who might have 
armed and blessed the forces of Christendom 
against His persecutors, wrought more wondrous- 
ly. He deigned not to use the carnal weapon: 
He bade the drawn sword return to its sheath: 
He refused the combinations and the armaments 
of earthly kings. He who sees the end from the 
beginning, who is "justified in His words, and 
overcomes when He is judged,'' did but wait. 



162 CONQUESTS OF OUK HOLY FAITH; OR, 

He waited patiently; He left the world to itself, 
nor avenged His Church, but stayed till the 
fourth watch of the night, when His faithful sons 
had given up hope, and thought His mercy to- 
wards them at an end. He let the winds and 
the waves insult Him and His own; He suffered 
meekly the jeers and blasphemies which rose on 
every side, and pronounced the downfall of His 
work. "All things have an end,'^ men said; 
"there is a time for all things; a time to be born, 
and a time to die. All things have their course 
and their term; they may last a longtime, but 
after all, a period they have, and not an immor- 
tality. So it is with man himself; even Mathusala 
and Noe exhausted the full fountain of their 
being, and the pitcher was at length crushed, and 
the wheel broken. S3 is it with nations ; they 
rise, and they flourish, and they fall; there is an 
element in them, as in individuals, which wears 
out and perishes. However great they may be 
in their day, at length the moment comes, when 
they have attained their greatest elevation, and 
accomplished their full range, and fulfilled their 
scope. So it is with great ideas and their mani- 
festations; they are realized, they prevail, and 
they perish. As the constituents of the animal 
frame at length refuse to hold together, so nations, 



TESTIMOlSriES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 163 

philosophies, and religions one day lose their 
unity and undergo the common law of decompo- 
sition. Our nation, doubtless, will find its term 
at length, as well as others, though not yet; but 
that ancient faith of ours is come to naught al- 
ready. We have nothing, then, to fear from the 
past; the past is not, the past cannot revive; the 
dead tell no tales; the grave cannot open. New 
adversaries we may have, but with the Old Re- 
ligion we have parted once for all." 

Tims speaks the world, deeming Christ's 
patience to be feebleness, and His loving affec- 
tion to be enmity. And the faithful, on the 
other hand, have had their own misgivings too, 
whether Catholicism could ever flourish in this 
country again. Has it yet happened anywhere 
in the history of the Church that a people 
which once lost its faith ever regained it f It 
is a gift of grace, a special mercy, to receive it 
once, and not to be expected a second time. 
Many nations have never had it at all ; from 
some it has been taken away, apparently with- 
out their fault, nay, in spite of their meritorious 
use of it. So was it with the old Persian 
Church, which, after enduring two frightful 
persecutions, had scarcely emerged from the 
second when it was irretrievably corrupted by 



164 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

heresy. So was it with the famous Cliurch of 
Africa, whose great Saint and Doctor's dying 
moments were embittered by the ravages 
around him of those fierce barbarians wlio were 
destined to be its ruin. What are we better 
than they? It is then surely against the order 
of Providence hitherto, that the gift once given 
should be given again; the world and the 
Church bear a concordant testimony here. 

And the just Judge of man made as though 
He would do what man anticipated. He re- 
tired, as T have said, from the field ; He yielded 
the battle to tlie enemy ; — but he did so, that 
He might in the event more signally triumph. 
He interfered not for near three hundred years, 
that his enemies might try tlieir powers of 
mind in forminof a reliofion instead of His own. 
He gave them three hundred years' start, bid- 
ding* them do somethinor* better than He, or some- 
thing at all, if so be they were able, and He put 
Himself to every disadvantage. He suffered 
the daily sacrifice to be suspended, the hier- 
archy to be driven out, education to be prohib- 
ited, religious houses to be plundered and sup- 
pressed, cathedrals to be desecrated, shrines to 
be rifled, religious rites and duties to be inter- 
dicted by the law of the land. He would owe 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 165 

the world nothing in that revival of the Cliurch 
which was to follow. He wrout>"ht, as in the 
old time, by His prophet Elias, who, when he 
was to light tlie sacrifice with the fire from 
heaven, drenched the burnt-offering with water 
the first time, the second time, and the third 
time; ^'and the water ran round about the altar, 
and the trench w\as filled up with water." He 
wrouo["ht as He Himself had done in the raising* 
of Lazarus ; for when He lieard that His friend 
was sick, ^^He remained in the same place two 
days; '' on the third day He ^^ said plainly, Lazar- 
us is dead, and I am glad, for your sake, that I 
was not there, that you may believe ;" and then, 
at length, he went and raised him from the 
grave. So,.too, was it in his own resurrection; 
He did not rise from the cross ; He did not 
rise from His mother's arms , He rose from the 
grave, and on the third day. 

So is it now : '' He hath taken us, and He will 
heal us ; He will strike, and He will cure us. 
He will revive us after two days ; on the third 
day he will raise us up, and we shall live in 
His sight." Three ages have passed away ; the 
bell has tolled once, and twice, and thrice ; the 
intercession of the saints has had effect ; the 
mystery of providence is unraveled; the destined 



166 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

hour is come. And as, when Christ arose, 
men knew not of His rising-, for He rose at 
midnight and in silence, so when His mercy 
would do His new work among* us. He wrought 
secretly, and w^as risen ere men dreamed of it. 
He sent not His Apostles and preachers, as at 
the first, from the city were He has fixed His 
throne. His few and scattered priests were 
about their own work, watching their flocks by 
night, with little time to attend to the souls of 
the wandering multitudes around them, and with 
no thoughts of the conversion of the country. 
But He came as a spirit upon the waters; He 
walked to and fro Himself over that dark and 
troubled deep, and, wonderful to behold, and 
inexplicable to man, hearts were stirred, and 
eyes were raised in hope, and feet began to 
move toward the Great Mother, who had almost 
given up the thought and the seeking of them. 
First one, and then another, sought the rest 
which she alone could give. A first, and a 
second, and a third, and a fourth, each in his 
turn, as grace inspired him, — not altogether, as 
by some party understanding or political call, — 
but drawn by divine power, and against his will, 
for he w^as happy where he was, yet with his 
will, for he was lovingly subdued by the sweet 



.T£STIMO]SIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 167 

mysterious influence which called him on. One 
by one, little noticed at the moment, silently, 
swiftly, and abundantly, they drifted in, till all 
could see at length that sureh^ the stone was 
rolled away, and th at Christ was risen and abroad. 
And as He rose from the grave, strong and glo- 
rious, as if refreshed with His sleep, so, when 
the prison doors were opened, the Church came 
forth, not changed in aspect or in voice, as calm 
and keen, as vigorous and as well furni^lied, as 
when they closed on her. It is told in legends 
of that great saint and instrument of God, St. 
Athanasius, how that, when the apostate Julian 
had come to his end, and persecution with him 
the saintly confessor, who had been a wanderer 
over the earth, was found, to the surprise of his 
people, in his cathedral at Alexandria, seated on 
his episcopal throne, and clad in the vestments 
of religion. So is it now; the Church is coming 
out of prison, as collected in her teaching, as 
precise in her action, as when she went into it. 
She comes out with pallium, and cope, and chasu- 
ble, and stole, and wonder-working relics and holy 
images. Her bishops are again in their chairs, 
and her priests sit round, and a perfect vision of 
a majestic hierarchy rises before our eyes. 

What an awful vitality is here! What a 



168 COIS-QUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

heavenly-sustained sovereignty! What a self- 
evident divinity! She claims, she seeks, she 
desires no temporal power, no secular station; she 
meddles not with Caesar or the things of Caesar; 
she obeys him in his place, but she is indepen- 
dent of him. Her strength is in her God; her 
rule is over the souls of men; her glory is in their 
willing subj ection and loving loyalty. She hopes 
and fears nothing from the world; it made her 
not, nor can it destroy her. She can benefit it 
largely, but she does not force herself upon it. 
She may be persecuted by it, but she thrives 
under the persecution. She may be ignored, she 
may be silenced and thrown into a corner, but 
she is thought of the more. Calumniate her and 
her influence grows; ridicule her — she does but 
smile upon you more awfully and persuasively. 
What will you do with her, ye sons of men, if 
you do not love her, if at least you will not suffer 
her? Let the last three hundred years reply. 
Let her alone, refrain from her; for if her counsel 
or her work be of men, it will come to naught; 
but if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest 
perhaps you be found even to fight against God. 
Cardinal Newmai!^, 

Occasional Sermons. 



THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OLD 

LAW. 



Cyrus, impatient to see the Sacred Books of 
the Hebrews, which contained oracles relating 
to his future greatness, conversed every day 
with Daniel ; and the Prophet gladly embraced 
the opportunity to instruct him in the Hebrew 
religion. He at length opened the books of 
Isaiah, who had prophesied of Cyrus by name 
an hundred and fifty years before his birth, and 
the prince read there these words : " Thus saith 
the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus ; whose right 
hand I have holden to subdue nations before 
him, and put kings to flight ; and I vrill open 
before him the tw^o-leaved gates, and the gates 
shall not be shut. I will go before thee, I will 
humble the great ones of the earth, Iwdllbreak 
in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder 
the bars of iron, and I will reveal to thee the 
hidden treasures, and the secret of secrets,*^ that 



* Arcana Secretorum, Isaiah xiv. 3. Vulg. 



170 CONQUESTS OF OUE HOLY FAITH; OR, 

thou mayest know that I, the Lord who have 
called thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. 
For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine 
elect, I have even called thee by thy name, I 
have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known 
me. I am the Lord, and there is none else, 
there is no other God besides me. — I form the 
light and create darkness. — I have made the 
earth and created man upon it, I, even my 
hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all 
their host have I commanded, I have raised 
him up in righteousness, and I will direct all 
his ways ; he shall build my city, and he shall 
let go my captives, not for price nor reward, 
saith the Lord of hosts." 

Cyrus was struck with awe and reverence, as 
well as astonishment, to see so clear and circum- 
stantial a prediction, a thing unknown in other 
nations; for there the oracles were always ob- 
scure and ambiguous, Eleazar (said he to the 
prophet) has already shewn me, that the great 
principles of your theology concerning the three 
states of the w^orld agree with those of other 
nations ; he has removed all my difficulties 
about the origin of evil, by proving the freedom 
of intelligent natures ; he shuts the mouth of 
impiety by his sublime ideas concerning the pre- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 171 

existence of souls, their voluntary fall, and their 
total restoration ; but he has said nothing to me 
of the supernatural estabhshment of your Law. 
I conjure you, by the God whom you adore, to 
answer my questions : Has your tradition the 
same source with that of other nations ? Has 
it been transmitted to you by a purer channel ? 
Was your Law-giver a mere philosopher, or a 
divine person? 

I know, answered Daniel, the endeavors 
which oar doctors use to accomodate religion 
to the taste of the philosophers ; but they are 
all bewildered and lost in a crowd of uncertain 
opinions. Who can find out the ways of God, 
or penetrate into his secret purposes ? Our 
thoughts are weak, and our conjectures vain ; 
the body, this earthly tabernacle, depresses the 
soul, and will not suffer it to reach those heights 
to which it fondly aspires. It is certain that 
God has permitted evil only that he might draw 
from it an infinite good, but how he will accom- 
plish his purpose is a secret hidden from the 
eyes of mortals. All the systems that can be 
imagined are either dangerous or defective. 
The curiosity of seeing into everything, explain- 
ing everything, and adjusting it to our imper- 
fect notions is the most fatal disease of the hu- 



172 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

man mind. The most sublime act of our feeble 
reason is to keep it silent before the sovereign 
Reason ; let us leave to God the care of justify- 
ing one day the incomprehensible ways of His 
Providence. Our pride and our impatience will 
not suffer us to wait for this unraveling ; we 
would go before the light, and by so doing we 
lose the use of it. '' Woe unto him that striveth 
with his Maker, unto him who is but clay and a 
potsherd of the earth.'' ^ Forget, therefore, all 
the refined speculations of the philosophers. I 
shall speak to you a more sure and simple 
language ; I shall propose nothing to you, but 
such truths as are supported by the universal 
tradition of all nations, or else palpable facts, 
of which the eyes, ears, and all the senses of 
men are judges. 

The Eternal created our first parents in .a 
state of innocence, happiness, and im.mortality, 
but the ambitious desire of increasing their 
knowledge and of being as gods carried them 
to disobey the orders of The Most Higli, They 
were driven from their habitation of delights, 
and their whole race was involved in their 
punishment, as it had been in their crime ; thus 

* Isaiah, xlv. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 173 

we were degraded in our origin, and blasted in 
our source. When mankind discontinued to be 
Just, they ceased to be immortal; sufferings 
followed close upon crimes, and men were con- 
demned to a state of pain and misery, in order 
to make them aspire perpetually after a better 
life. For the first ages, after the fall, religion 
was not written ; the moral part of it was found 
in reason itself, and the mysteries of it were 
transmitted by tradition from the ancients. As 
men lived then several ages, it was easy to pre- 
serve that tradition in its purity. But the sub- 
lime knowledge of the first men having served 
only to make them the more criminal, the whole 
race of mankind, except the family of Noah, was 
destroyed, in order to stop the course of im- 
piety and the increase of vice. The fountains of 
the great abyss were broken up, and the waters 
covered the earth with a universal deluge, of 
which there yet are some traces in the traditions 
of all nations, and of which we see every day 
some convincing proofs, when we dig into the 
bowels of the earth. The constitution of the 
world, which had suffered by the fall^ was im- 
paired anew f" the Juices of the earth were im- 



* See M. de Maux's Universal History, 



174 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

poveristed and spoilt by this inundation ; the 
herbs and fruits had no longer the same virtue; 
the air, loaded with an excessive moisture, 
strengthened the principles of corruption, and 
the life of man was shortened. The descend- 
ants of Noah, who spread themselves over the 
face of the whole earth, quickly forgot this 
terrible effect of the divine indignation ; they 
corrupted their ways, and gave themselves up 
to all wickedness. It was then, that the Eternal 
resolved to choose a peculiar people to be the 
depository of religion, morality and divine truths, 
that they might not be debased, and entirely 
obscured by the imagination, passions, and vain 
reasonings of men. Abraham, by his faith and 
obedience, was found worthy to be the head and 
the father of this happy people. The Most 
High promised him that his posterity should be 
multiplied as the stars of heaven, that they 
should one day possess the land of Canaan, and 
that of his seed should come the Desire of Na- 
tions in the fullness of time. The rising family 
of this patriarch, feeble in its beginnings, went 
down to Egypt, where they became very numer- 
ous, awakened the jealousy of the Egyptians, 
and were reduced to a state of slavery ; but hav- 
ing been tried and purified by all sorts of afflic- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS, 175 

tions for the space of four hundred years, God 
raised up Moses to deliver them. 

The Most Ilighj having iii*st inspired our 
dehverer with the purest wisdom, lent him his 
almighty power to prove his divine mission by 
the most signal wonders ; these wonders were 
nothing less than a frequent and instantaneous 
changing of the order and course of nature. 
The haughty King of Egypt refused to obey 
the orders of the Almighty, Moses terrified his 
court with the repeated signs of the vengeance 
of Heaven : he stretched out his arms, and the 
whole kingdom felt its dreadfid power ; rivers 
were turned into blood ; swarms of venomous 
insects spread everywhere diseases and death ; 
prodigious lightnings, with storms of hail, de- 
stroyed men, beasts and plants ; a thick dark- 
ness hid for three days all the luminaries of 
heaven ; and an exterminating angel destroyed 
in one night all the first-born of Egypt. At 
length the people of God left the land of their 
captivity, and Pharao pursued them with a 
formidable arm 3^. A pillar of fire was their 
guide by night, and a thick cloud by day con- 
cealed their march from their pursuers. Moses 
spake, the sea divided, the Israelites went 
through it on dry ground, and were no sooner 



176 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

passed than the sea returned to its strength, 
and its impetuous waves swallowed up the in- 
fidel nation. Our fathers wandered in the desert, 
where they suffered hunger, thirst, and the in- 
clemency of the seasons: They murmured against 
God, Moses spake again: A miraculous flood 
descended from heaven ; dry rocks became 
fountains of living water ; the earth opened 
and swallowed up those who refused to believe 
the promises, unless they might see their ac- 
complishment. It was in this desert that God 
himself published his Holy Law, and dictated 
all the rights and statutes of our religion. He 
called our conductor to the top of the Mount 
Sinai ; the mountain trembled, and the voice of 
the Eternal was heard in thunders and light- 
nings. He displayed his dreadful power to 
make an impression upon hearts more disposed 
to be affected by fear than love. But the God 
appeared no less in the wonders of His good- 
ness than in those of his power. The high and 
lofty One, who inherits eternity, and whoni the 
heaven of heavens cannot contain, condescend- 
ed to dwell in a visible manner amongst the 
children of Israel, and to direct them in all their 
ways. A movable sanctuary, with the Ark of 
the Covenant, was formed and erected by His 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 177 

order, and the altar was sanctified by the 
presence of the gloiy of The Most High. The 
rays of a heavenly light encompassed the Ta- 
bernacle, and God, sitting between the Cherub- 
im, from thence declared His will. Moses, by 
the command of Grod Himself, committed to 
writing our law and our history, the everlasting 
proofs of His supreme goodness, and of our in- 
gratitude; a little before his death he put his 
book into the hands of all the people ; it was 
necessary at every instant to consult it, in order 
to know not only the religious but civil laws ; 
each Hebrew is obliged to read it once a year, 
and to transcribe the whole of it at- least once 
in his life. It was impossible to alter or corrupt 
these sacred annals, without the imposture being 
discovered and punished as a treason against 
God and an attempt against the civil authority. 
Chevalier de Ramsay, 

The Travels of Cyrus. 



THE HAPPINESS OP BEING A 
CATHOLIC. . 



I thank God that I can say, "It was a true 
report that I heard in mine own land," of the 
glory and blessedness of the Catholic ChurcL 
''Mine eyes have seen it, and behold the half 
was not told me ; it exceeded the fame which 
I had heard." Nay, when I remember the 
many doubts and misgivings which I felt when 
I was a Protestant, and the many fears with 
which I shrank from Joining myself to a system 
which I had long believed to be corrupt and 
horrible, and when I compare these feelings 
with the certainty, and peace, and blessedness 
which I have found since I had grace to make 
the venture, it seems to me, as if the change 
which I have made can be compared only to 
the happy death of the just, from which in 
years gone by they perhaps shrunk with dread, 
and hardly dared to look forward to it; but 
to which they forever look back as to their 
new birth into a state blessed, beyond all that 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 179 

the heart of man can conceive. Oh, that every 
one of my dear friends, who are still trembHng 
on the brink of that which seems to them so 
dark a river, would take courage by our exam- 
ple and risk all upon the faith of the words of 
Christ. And for mypelf I need ask nothing 
else, nor is there anything others need ask for 
me beyond the grace of perseverance, that, hav- 
ing been sought out by the grace ol m}^ Lord 
and Saviour, and brought into the Church of 
His mercy, contrary to my own deserts, I may 
endure unto the end, and through the blood of 
my Lord and Saviour may lay hold of eternal 
life. Amen. 

Rt. Rev. Monsignor G. H. Doane, 

A Manual of Prayers and Instruction for 

Persons Seeking the True Beligion. 



THE EELIEF OF VIENNA. 



The dawn of the autumn morning was break- 
ing in the horizon. A thin mist rested on the 
crest of the Kahlenberg, and gathered in dense 
masses on the plain and river below. The eye 
of the Polish sentinels could catch the spire of St. 
Stephen's rising above that silvery cloudy whilst 
the darker masses of the city-walls were still 
veiled within its folds and still unceasingly from 
that tapering tower there rose those fiery signals, 
which seemed to repeat, hour after hour, the words 
of Stahremberg's last dispatch : "No time to be 
lost !" It was a Sunday morning, as on the day 
of Lepanto — an association not forgotten by the 
Christian host ; and as the sun rose higher, and 
raised the curtain that hung over the scene, life 
seemed to awake in the Turkish camp, and again 
the roar of their artillery was heard pouring its 
destructive fire upon the city, whilst their cavalry 
and the squadrons of the Tartars faced toward 
the mountain. The Vizier was thus preparing 
for battle on either side of his encampment. But 



' TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVEKTS. 181 

before we endeavor to follow the course of the 
conflict, let us pause on the heights of the Kah- 
lenberg, and watch the scene that meets our eye 
among the forces of the Christian allies. Falling 
sweetly and gently through the morning air, there 
comes the echo of a bell from the chapel of the 
Margrave : its little steeple rises above the mass- 
es of forest-foliage, rich with autumn tints ; and 
as the sound reaches the lines of the Polish troops, 
the clang of their arms and the long reveille of 
their trumpets are hushed in silence. Before the 
chapel-door is planted the Christian standard — 
a red flag bearing a white cross; and as the symbol 
of their faith and of the holy cause for which 
they are in arms is displayed, a shout of enthusi- 
asm bursts from the ranks, and is caught up 
again and again from every quarter of the mount- 
ain. But silence is restored, and all eyes turn 
in the direction of the old castle ; and as its gates 
are suddenly flung open, you may see a proces- 
sion of the princes of the empire, and of many a 
gallant and noble soldier from every nation of 
Christendom, moving forward to commend the 
cause of their arms to the God of battles. At 
the head of that column walks neither king nor 
prince, but the form of one with the brown habit, 
shaven crown, and sandalled feet of a Capuchin 



182 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

friar. The soldiers cross themselves as he pass- 
es, and kneel to receive the blessing which he 
gives with outstretched hands. It is Marco 
Aviano, the confessor to the emperor, and one on 
whom there rests the character of a saint and the 
reputation of prophetic gifts. He has been with 
the army in all its difficulty and distress ; he is 
with them now, to bless their arms, and to re- 
mind them of the cause for which they are about 
to fight. And close following him in the gorgeous 
procession are three figures that rivet you as you 
gaze. The first is one whose look instantly 
commands respect. He is past the prime of life, 
and there is something too much of portliness in 
his manly form ; and yet the majesty of his bear- 
ing tells you at a glance that he is a hero and a 
king : that broad and noble forehead, that quick 
yet gentle eye, and the open look that mingles 
such simplicity with its command — all bespeak 
no common man. It is the conqueror of Choc- 
zim and Podhaiski. On his left is the young 
Prince James, the father afterwards of the Prin- 
cess dementia, whose marriage with the Cheval- 
ier of St. Ceorge mingled the blood of Sobieski 
with that of the exiled Stuarts. On the right of 
the King is the foi'm of Charles of Lorraine, 
plain and negligent in his attire. Then follow 



TESTIMONIES OF BISTINGnSHED CONVEETS. 183 

the sovereign princes of Germany, We will not 
weary our reader with a list of names. As our 
eye wanders over the royal and noble rank, glitt- 
ering with the insignia of their rank and military 
command, it rests on a slender youth of middle 
stature, whose eye has in it the promise of a 
future career of glory. Yes, you have guessed 
aright: the Prince, his eldest brother, has al- 
ready fallen in the cause ; but Eugene of Savoy 
has escaped to draw his maiden sword in the 
defence of the faith, and to learn under Sobieski 
his first lesson of that science in which he was 
hereafter to share the battle-fields and renown 
of England's Marlborough. They enter the 
chapel; Aviano celebrates the Mass, which is 
served by Sobieski himself; and during the 
pause in which he is not engaged at the altar, he 
is kneeling on the steps, his head bowed down, 
his arms extended in the form of a cross, and 
his whole soul absorbed in prayer. It is a spec- 
tacle which revives to your imagination the days 
of Dominic and De Montfort, and the consecra- 
tion of the Crusaders' swords before the fight of 
Muret, as you see every individual in that prince- 
ly and martial assembly kneeling in turn to re- 
ceive the Bread of Life, whilst the thunder of the 
Turkish guns is even now sounding in their ears. 



184 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

They will soon be in the field, and, ere the sun 
is down, some of them will be lying there cold 
and dead. But they have fitted themselves for 
death ; and at this moment, as you gaze on them, 
they seem full of that antique spirit of the elder 
chivalry, which has stamped its likeness on those 
tombs and sculptured effigies, making you doubt 
whether they who lie beneath were men of war 
or prayer. 

The Mass is over. And then the last act of the 
religious ceremony is completed by a touching 
and beautiful incident. Prince James is led to 
the feet of his heroic father to receive the still 
honorable and sacred dignity of Christian knight- 
hood. When this was done, the ardor of So- 
bieski became impatient of further delay. He 
sprang into his saddle, and, riding forward 
to the front of the line, spoke to his followers 
in their own language. ^'Warriors and friends," 
he said, '^ our enemies are yonder in the plain, 
in greater numbers than at Choczim, when we 
trampled them under our feet. We fight them 
on a foreign soil, but we fight for our country ; 
and under the walls of Vienna we are defend- 
ing those of Cracow and Warsaw. We have to 
save this day, not a single city, but Christen- 
dom itself: the war, therefore, is holy. There is 



TESTIIVIONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 185 

a blessing on our arms, and a crown of glory for 
him who falls. You are not fighting for any 
earthly sovereign, but for the King of kings. It 
is he who has led you up these heights, and plac- 
ed the victory in your hands. I have but one 
command to give — Follow me. The time is 
come for the young to win their spurs." A tre- 
mendous shout from the ranks was the answer 
to this harangue, replied to from the distant 
enetny by cries of ^^ Allah ! Allah ! " Then, press- 
ing his liorse to the mountain edge, Sobieski 
pointed to the plain below, to the rock and pre- 
cipices of the descent, and the moving masses 
of the enemy. ^^ March on in confidence," he 
cried; ^^God and his Blessed Mother are with 
us!'' And as he spoke, five cannon shots gave 
tho signal for the advance. Tlie ranks imme- 
diatelv commenced the descent, and Aviano 
turned back into the chapel to pray. 

It was the original plan of the king to con- 
tent himself this day with the descent of the 
Kahlenberg, and the secure establishment of the 
troops in position for battle on the morrow. 
Even his quick and ardent genius had proposed 
no such gigantic undertaking as the routing of 
the whole Turkish host, and the deliverance of 
the city in the course of a few hours. The event 



186 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

of the day was scarcely so much of his own cal- 
culations as of the unforeseen circumstances by 
which the left wing of the army under Lorraine 
became engaged in a premature and desperate 
struggle with the right of the Turkish force, and 
thus brought on the necessity for a general action. 
The imperial troops descended the wooded ra- 
vines, driving their opponents before them, 
slowly but surely ; for though the Turks obsti- 
nately defended every foot of ground, they were 
no match for their adversaries. The Christian 
army was arranged in order of battle in five 
distinct columns, which came down the mount- 
tain-side "like so many irresistible torrents, yet 
in admirable order," stopping every hundred 
paces to enable those behind to come up to them, 
and preserve their ranks. Each ravine was 
found guarded and fortified, and was the scene 
of a separate conflict. The rocks, and groups of 
trees, and the thick tangle of the vineyards — all 
formed so many covers for the defence to the re- 
treating Ottomans ; but still, spite of all resist- 
ance on their parts, nothing could check the 
downward progress of those five mountain-tor- 
rents, which rolled on steadily and victoriously, 
sweeping all before them. The descent had com- 
menced at eight o'clock, and by ten the left wing 



TESTIMOIS^IES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 187 

of the army was in the plain. Lorraine halted by 
command of Sobieski, to enable the Polish troops 
to come up ; and as each squadron issued from 
the mountain-defiles, it took up its position in 
the order of battle prescribed by the king, and 
planted its standard in the field. By this time, 
the hope of pushing the struggle to a decisive 
issue that day had suggested itself to the im- 
perial commanders; and Field-Marshal Geltz, 
perceiving the progress of the Bavarians and 
Poles on the right and centre, observed to the 
Duke that it would be his own fault if he did not 
that night sleep in Vienna. It was eleven o'clock ; 
the burning sun had scattered all the mist of the 
morning, and the whole scene glittered in the 
noonday blaze. The heat was oppressive ; and 
there was a pause in the movements of the im- 
perial troops. Suddenly a cry ran along the 
line, caught up from regiment to regiment, ''Live 
Sobieski ! '' Out from the defiles of the Wiener- 
berg flashed the gilded cuirasses of the Polish 
cavalry; and the bay horse andsky-blue doublet 
of the rider at their head announced the presence 
of the king. Before him wenf an attendant, bear- 
ing a shield emblazoned with his arms. Another 
rode near him, bearing the plumed lance of Po- 
land ; this, as it streamed above the heads of the 



188 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

combatants, always showed Sobieski's place in 
the battle ; and around it the fight always gath- 
ered the thickest ; while his soldiers were accus- 
tomed to look to that white and waving signal 
as to the star of victory. 

The rocks and broken ground in which they 
stood formed a vast and beautiful amphitheatre, 
carpeted with turf and dotted with noble trees 
Under one of these Sobieski alighted; and, order- 
ing his men to do the same, they took a hasty 
repast. It occupied but a few minutes ; and 
then, the semi-circular battle-line of the Chris- 
tian columns forming in admirable order, the 
king rode round the whole body, speaking to 
each in their own language ; for there were few 
European tongues of which he was not perfect 
master. The order was given for the whole line 
to advance. The Turks, profiting by the halt of 
their enemies, had brought up large reinforce- 
ments, commanded by the Vizier in person. They 
were met by a furious charge from the Polish 
lancers, who at first drove all before them ; but, 
led on by their impetuosity, and surrounded by 
the masses of the infidels, they were for a mo- 
ment nearly overwhelmed. Their officers fell 
thick and fast. Waldech and his Bavarians 
came up to their rescue; but the struggle was still 



TE&TIMOISriES OF DISTINGUISHED COKYERTS. 189 

doubtful, when the second line and the imperial 
dragoons, with Sobieski at their head; came down 
on the squadrons of the Turks with a tremendous 
shock. Everything gave way before them: on 
they went, through ravines and villages, and 
still, as they dashed on, they swept their foes 
from one outpost to another, nor drew their reins 
till they touched the glacis of the camp, and the 
gilded peaks of the Ottoman tents rose close 
before their eyes. Here the w^hole Turkish 
force was drawn up to receive them. The 
front of their line bristled with artillery; the 
flanks were strongly protected by fortifica- 
tions hastily but skilfully raised. 

It was five o'clock. " Sobieski," says Salvandy, 
^* had reckoned on sleeping on the field of bat- 
tle, and deferring until next day the comple- 
tion of the drama; for that which remained to 
be done scarcely seemed possible to be complet- 
ed in a few hours, and with tired troops. Never- 
theless, the allies, in spite of the oppressiveness 
of the weather, were re-animated rather than ex- 
hausted by their march ; whereas it was evi- 
dent that consternation reigned in the Ottoman 
ranks. Far away were to be seen the long 
lines of the camels, hastily pressing for- 
ward on the road to Hungary ; they might 
be tracked by the cloud of dust which 



190 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

darkened the horizon for miles." The Vizier 
alone showed confidence, as dangerous and un- 
reasonable as was the panic of his followers. He 
counted on an easy triumph ; and having, as a 
first step, ordered the slaughter of all his cap- 
tives, including women and children, to the 
number of 30,000 souls, he appeared on the field 
mounted on a charger whose accoutrements, 
glittering with gold, rendered the animal equally 
unserviceable for battle or for flight. But flight 
was the last idea that suggested itself to the 
mind of Kara Mustapha. Dismounted from liis 
overloaded horse, he might have been seen seated 
in a damask tent, luxuriously drinking cofi*ee with 
his two sons, as if he had but to look on at his 
ease, and watch the dispersion of his enemies. 
The sight stirred the choler of Sobieski. So 
rapid had been his advance, that he had no artil- 
lery with him, save two or three light pieces, 
which Konski had dragged on by the strong arm 
of his artillerymen. These the King ordered to 
be pointed at the brilliant tent, from which the 
Vizier w^as now giving his orders ; but the am- 
munition soon failed, and a French officer in- 
geniously rammed home the last cartridge with 
his wig, gloves, and a bundle of newspapers. W^e 
are not told the effect of his original charge ; 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 191 

but at that moment the infantry came up under 
Mahgni, the King's brother-in-law, and were in- 
stantly dispatched to a height which commanded 
the position of the Vizier. A vigorous attack 
soon carried them beyond the outposts, and 
planted them on the redoubts. Then a waver- 
ing hesitation was observed in the crowded ranks 
of the Mussulmans, which caught the quick eye 
of Sobieski and decided the fate of the day. 
'' They are lost men," he cried ; '^ let the whole 
line advance." And as he led them in person 
right for the Vizier's tent, his terrible presence 
was recognized by the infidels. ^^ By Allah, the 
King is with them ! " exclaimed the Khan of the 
Crimea ; and every eye was turned in terror to- 
ward the spot where the dancing feathers of that 
snow-white plume carried victory wherever they 
appeared. Sobieski had sent word to Lorraine to 
attack the centre, and leave him to finish the dis- 
ordered masses in his front. Then, surrounded 
by his hussars, and preceded by his emblazoned 
sln'eld and the plume-bearing lance which dis- 
tinguished his place in the battle, he brandished 
his sword in the foremost rank, calling aloud 
in the words of the royal prophet, ^^ Not unto 
us, not untous,0 Lord God of hosts, but to Thy 
name give the glory ! " The enthusiasm of his 



192 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

presence excited his troops to prodigies of valor ; 
his name rang through the plain ; and, as the 
infidels quailed and gave way before the charges 
of his cavalry, led on by their glorious chief, a 
bloody token appeared in the evening sky, which 
struck a supernatural dread into their hearts. It 
was an eclipse of the moon, and the heavens 
themselves seemed fighting against the host of 
Ottomans. '^ God defend Poland ! " the national 
cry, now sounded from the advancing columns 
of a fresh body of troopers. They came on at a 
full gallop, the other squadrons joining in their 
desperate charge. Palatines, senators, and 
nobles, they fell with headlong impetuuosity on 
the masses of their foes ; and such was the fury 
of their attack that, as man and horsewent doAvn 
before their lances, the huge body of the Otto- 
mans was cleft in twain, and a road, as it were, 
cut in their centre, formed by the passage of the 
Christian troops. The shock was so terrible that 
nearly every lance of the Polish squadrons was 
snapped asunder; those lances of which one of 
their nobles once said, that, should the heavens 
fall they would bear them up upon their points. 
The Turks could offer no further resistance, 
there was but one thought among their ranks, 
and that was flight ; their very numbers, instead 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 193 

of strengthening, only embarrassed them. The 
Vizier, but an hour before so proud and confident, 
was borne along in the panic-stricken crowd, 
weeping and cursing in turns. In the melee he 
came across the Khan of the Crimea, himself 
among the foremost of the fugitives. '' You, too, ' 
he said bitterly, ^' can you do nothing to help 
me ! " ^'The King of Poland is behind, '' was 
his reply ; '^ there is but one thing left for us. 
Look at the sky, too, and see if Grod be not 
against us. '^ And he pointed to the bloody 
moon, which, close to the horizon, presented a 
ghastly spectacle to the eyes of the terror- 
stricken infidel. And so the tide of flight and 
of pursuit swept on ; conquered, terrified, and 
not daring to raise their eyes from the earth, the 
Mussulman army no longer existed. The cause 
of Europe, of Christendom, and of civilization 
had triumphed ; the floods of the Ottoman power 
were checked, and rolled backward, never to 
rise again. 

An hour only had passed since the fight be- 
gan ; and when it closed, Sobieski was standing 
within the Vizier's tent. The charger, with its 
golden caparisons, was led to him by a slave, who 
held its bridle, before the door of the pavilion. 
Taking one of its golden stirrups, the King gave 



194 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

it in charge to a courier to bear to the queen, as 
a token of the defeat and flight of its owner. 
Then his standards were planted in the camp, 
and a wild and stormy night closed over the field 
of battle. 

Meanwhile there had been an action as des- 
perate, and as successful in its result to the Chris- 
tian arms, on the breach of Vienna. The storm- 
ing party was repulsed by the determined valor 
of Stahremberg and bis shattered yet heroic 
followers. And when the Turks gave way, and 
Louis of Baden pushed on toward the Scottish 
gate, the garrison, sallying from the walls and 
mingling with his dragoons, fell on the m.ain 
body of the Janizaries occupying the trenches 
of the enemy, and cut them all to pieces. 

The King passed the night under a tree ; and 
after fourteen hours spent in the saddle, his sleep 
was sound and heavy. The sunrise broke over 
a scene of strange and melancholy confusion. 
The Ottoman camp, so lately glittering in all its 
oriental splendor, was now deserted by its oc- 
cupants, and bore in every direction the traces of 
their ferocious cruelty. As the Poles marched 
through it, they trod over the bodies of the 
Christian captives murdered in cold blood. 
Every woman attached to the camp had suffered 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 195 

a similar fate. Nor was this all ; for camels and 
horses were found slaughtered in great numbers, 
lest they should fall alive into the hands of the 
victors ; nay, it is said the Vizier had beheaded 
an ostrich with his own scimetar, that it might 
never own a Christian for its master. The camp, 
with its silken pavilion and all its riches, was one 
vast charnel-house. The horrors of the scene 
were heightened by the signs of luxury that 
everywhere met the eye. The baths and foun- 
tains, the tissue and gay carpetings, the jewelled 
arms and ornaments with which the ground 
was strewn, contrasted strangely with the heaps 
of ghastly corpses that lay piled around. 

But we will pass over the list of the slain, and 
the details of a booty almost fabulous in value, to 
bring our reader to the walls o± Vienna, where the 
agony of a long suspense had been exchanged 
for the joy of a deliverance at once so sudden 
and so complete. Sobieski entered the city 
through the breach made by the guns of the in- 
fidels, and through which, but for his speedy 
succor, they would themselves have passed as 
victors. As he rode along by the side of 
Stahremberg, accompanied by the Duke of Lor- 
raine and the Elector of Saxony, the streets 
resounded with acclamations of the people, 



196 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

i 

who crowded about his horse. They kissed his 
hand; liis feet, his very dress ; and some were 
heard to exclaim, as they involuntarily compared 
the hero who had delivered them with the sover- 
eign who had deserted them, '' Why is he not our 
master ? '' They followed him in crowds to the 
Church of the Augustines, where he himself, 
filled with impatient enthusiasm, stepped before 
the high altar and commenced intoning the Te 
DeuMj which was instantly taken up by his own 
Poles and the clergy of the church. The sud- 
den stillness caused by the cessation of the firing, 
which had been distinctly heard not only at 
Neustadt, but far over the Styrian Alps, struck 
terror into the surrounding population, who 
thought that the ancient city of the Christian 
Caesars had fallen into the hands of the enemies 
of the faith. A welcome sound, therefore, to 
them was the boom of the three hundred cannons, 
the thunder of which accompanied the thanks- 
j^iving at the Church of the Augustines. The 
magistrates caused the ceremony to be repeated 
3n the Cathedral of St. Stephen's ; and as the 
echoes of the chant rolled through its glorious 
aisles, Sobieski knelt, as his biographer relates, 
'^prostrate, with his face upon the ground.'^ 
There was a sermon too ; and if the text was a 



'tESTI .MONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 197 

plagiarism from the lips of St. Pius on the day of 
Lepanto, it was at least an appropriate one: 
''There was a man sent from God, whose 
name was John." The news of the great event, 
which fixed the destinies of the West, flew from 
country to country, and everywhere roused the 
enthusiasm of the people. Protestant and Cath- 
olic states united in decreeing public thanks- 
giving to be oflered in the churches for the great 
victory obtained ; and everywhere it w^as cele- 
brated with rejoicings at court and in the houses 
of the nobility. Even in England, severed as 
she was from Catholic unity, the pulpits rang 
with the triumphs of the Polish king. At Rome, 
the feast of thanksgiving lasted an entire month. 
When the news of the victory reached the ears of 
Innocent XI., he cast himself at the foot of the 
crucifix, and melted into tears. The night saw 
the magical dome of St. Peter's blazing with its 
fiery illumination ; and within that dome, a few 
days later, the great banner of the Vizier, which 
had been dispatched to the Pontiff in the first 
moment of victory, was solemnly suspended side 
by side with the captured standards of Choczim. 
But it was not to Sobieski's name alone that 
the glory and honor of her great deliverance was 
ascribed by the voice of Christendom. ^' Non 



1 98 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

nohis^ DomineyUon nohis!^^ had been his battle- 
cry in the front of the Turkish lines ; and it was 
taken up and re-echoed by the Church. Europe, 
in its gratitude, gave thanks to the interceding 
love of her whose image, on the shattered and 
crumbling walls of Vienna, had remained un- 
touched by all the batteries of the infidels; and 
by order of Innocent, the Sunday within the oc- 
tave of our Lady's Nativity, on which day the 
memorable action was fought, was thenceforward 
kept as a solemn festival of thanksgiving for this 
and all the other mercies bestowed on the Church 
through the gracious intercession, and has re- 
ceived the title of the Feast of the Name of Mary, 
Augusta Theodosia Drane, 

Knights of St. John. 



THE ETERNAL CITY. 



All the preceding empires have perished, 
while Home not only still lives, but continues to 
be familiarly known in the mouths of all the 
civilized nations of the world as the '' Eternal 
CityT Even at the present moment, to the 
leading politicians of all the great powers who 
divide the ancient imperial sovereignty of the 
world among themselves, the " Roman question'* 
is their chief, and, to all appearance, their in- 
soluble difficulty. Rome stamped her coinage 
in the time of the Imperial Caesars with the in- 
scription, 

" ROMAE AETEENITATI,'' 

And though " eternity " is plainly not a word 
to be bandied about as an idle compliment, Rome 
in the nineteenth century remains still standing 
before the nations as the one city of the earth to 
which, by the unanimous consent of all civil- 
ized people, the name of the Eternal City is 
freely given. 

Of Nineveh tlie Hebrew prophet has said, 
*' Nineveh is laid waste ; who shall bemoan thee % 



200 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

whence shall I seek a comforter for thee?''' 
And his word has come true ; Nineveh has dis- 
appeared. Of Babylon another prophet has 
said, " Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth. " ' '^ Ba- 
bylon shall be as when God overthrew Sodom 
and Gomorrha. '' ^ And his words have also 
been fulfilled ; Babylon is not. Persia, after pas- 
sing through a series of humiliating conquests 
and subjections, has at last withered and shrunk 
mider a form of despotism that has scarcely more 
than a tribal existance. Of Greece a well-known 
poet says — 

" Greece ! change thy lords, thy state is the still same ; 
Thy glorious day is o'er, but not thy years of shame. "^ 

Rome alone of the number survives, and is 
still the great centre of thought and action for 
the whole world ; to her every eye still continues 
to be turned from every corner of the habitable 
globe. If the beautiful lines of one of her 
famous poets — 

** Alme sol curru nitido diem qui 
Promisit coelis, aliusque et idem 
Nasceris, possis nihil urbe Roma 
Visere majus. " ^ 

were ever true, they are equally true at the pres- 
ent hour, though possibly not so much by reason 



(I) Nah. iii. 7. (2) Isa. xlvi. I. (3) Isa. xiii. 19, 

(4) Childe Harold, canto ii. 76. (5) Horace, Carmen Sceculare. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS, 201 

of extent of population or of material greatness, 
as on account of an extent of influence and juris- 
diction that far exceeds anything known to the 
Rome of the Gentile world. 

Eey, Henry Formby. 



THE ATTITUDE OF THE WORLD 
TOWARDS THE CHURCH. 



The Catholic Church is the great incubus 
whioh is perpetually haunting and troubling 
the dreams of the world. Men try to ignore 
it ; but it obtrudes itself upon their unwilling 
notice. They would fain remand it to a place 
among the effete superstitions of the past ; but 
when they think the spectre is laid, it returns 
unbidden, and casts its vast shadow over the 
present. In that shadow the world lies uneasi- 
ly; and consciously or unconsciously, it betrays 
its dissatisfaction. In every great political and 
social movement, in the literature of the day, nay 
in every magazine and newspaper which drops 
from the teeming press, the influence may be 
more or less distinctly discerned of the mysteri- 
ous presence of this great spiritual organization. 
The world has always been puzzled to account 
for this influence. Protestantism it can under- 
stand perfectly — ^there is nothing unearthly or 
mysterious about that ; but in the life and pro- 
gress of the Catholic Church there is something 



TESTIMONIES OF BISTINGUISHED CONVERTS, 203 

which defies every attempt at rational and sys- 
tematic explanation. 

To be sure, men have their theories ; but, if 
the truth be told, they are by no means so 
satisfactory as might be wished. Such expres- 
sions as Hhe consummate policy of Rome,' and 
Hhe marvellous machinery of the Catholic 
Church/ are after all but stock phrases, with 
w^hich men dispose of phenomena which must 
have at least a nominal resolution. What is 
there behind the policy ? What puts life into 
the machinery, and guides the great engine into 
its noiseless, frictionless activity ? Will * dis- 
cipline ' explain the devotion of the Catholic 
Priesthood ? Men do not turn hypocrites in 
order to spend their years in prayer and fast- 
ing; neither do they voluntarily elect to become 
the passive tools of a sordid despotism, to be 
rewarded only by a life of sacrifice and toil. In- 
deed, the world does not believe its own slanders. 
And now and then, when some periodic gust 
of persecution assails the Church, and not a 
martyr flinches or when pestilence goes through 
the land, and faithful seekers of souls follow 
quickly in the trail of the destroyer, and the 
places of those who fall are instantly and noise- 
lessly filled ; or when tidings come that a score 



204 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

or SO of missionaries and a few thousand converts 
have been massacred in some hitherto unheard- 
of province of China, the world, conscience- 
smitten, holds its peace, and pays to the king- 
dom which is ^not of this world' the tribute of 
a sullen, if not a respectful silence. 

One of the best things ever said by that 
acute thinker, the Count de Maistre, was that *no 
test is so infallible as the instinct of infidelity."* 
Certainly, in examining the claims of rival 
Christian bodies, it will be the part of prudence 
to watch narrowly the tactics of the opponents 
of all Christianity, And here at once we come 
upon something definite ; for the application of 
this criterion gives us results which no sincere 
lover of truth can disregard. Infidelity does 
not stop to make war upon Protestantism ; it is 
too cunning by far to quarrel with those who 
are ignorantly doing its own work ; it greets 
them wdth a covert sneer, or an insolent nod of 
recognition, and goes on to do battle with its 
ancient and inveterate foe. Look at the charac- 
ter of the unbelief of Catholic and Protestant 
countries. Doubtless some of my readers are 
amazed at this challenge. They have been ac- 



* Du Pape, liv. iv. ch. xi. § 14. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS 205 

customed to regard the religious conditions of 
Catholic nations as one of the strongest argu- 
ments against the Catholic Church ; nowhere, 
say they, is infidelity so thorough-going and so 
bold ; and in no way can this virulent scepticism 
be explained but as the inevitable reaction from 
the degrading superstition in which the people 
have been for centuries held. Surely observa- 
tion was never more hasty nor inference more 
illogical. There is less of real irreligion in 
Catholic than Protestant countries. What 
there is, is indeed rampant. And why I Not 
as a necessary recoil from a religion which de- 
grades rather tlian enlightens. I am convinced, 
from my own experience in Catholic countries, 
that this supposed religious degeneracy is a 
huge bugbear. The explanation is far more 
simple. The Catholic Church makes no truce, 
holds no parley, with the world, the flesh, nor 
the devil. Her enemies can neither fri^-hten 
her into silence nor cajole her into compromise. 
At every point they find her guarded, 
vigilant, and unrelenting ; and, driven from her 
citadel, they are forced to stand forth in open 
warfare and rail at her in furious defiance. In 
France, and Spain, and Italy a man is either a 
Catholic or an infidel. But in Protestant coun- 



206 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

tries unbelief salutes Christianity ; it puts on the 
livery of the saints, and builds its chapels, and 
pays its preachers; and in the course of a genera- 
tion or two it has made Protestantism as god- 
less as itself. 

Read the history of Europe for the last two 
centuries. It is that of one long, desperate 
struggle, waged by all the anarchic powers of 
human nature, and with all the weapons which 
craft and hatred could furnish — against what ? 
Not against Protestantism, but against the 
Catholic Church. Deists, Encyclopedists, Jacob- 
ins, Rationalists, Free-thinkers — they are good 
Protestants all ; they laud the Reformation ; they 
boast that they carry out its principles ; and 
with one consent, though by divers arts — by 
argument, by satire, by blasphemy, and by 
the guillotine — they assail Her within whom 
dwells the everlasting Presence, before which 
the devils of old cried out, saying, ^Let us alone; 
what have we to do with thee, Jesus of 
Nazareth ? Art thou come to destroy us ? I 
know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God? 
Rev. James Kent Stone, 

Tlie Invitation Heeded: 
Heasonsfor a Return to Catholic Unity. 



LETTER OF NATALIE NARISCHKIN 
TO THE COUNTESS LEBZELTERN, 



Vienna, September IStli, 1845. 

As I can at last, write to you quite freely, 
I will not put oflf a moment confiding to you 
what I should like to have told you long ago, 
and that is the announcement of my return to 
the true faith On the 15th of August, the glorious 
festival of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, 
I had the happiness of making my adjuration in 
the Church of the Jesuits at Venice. The Rev. 
Father Ferrari, whom you perhaps know, direct- 
ed and assisted me in the accomplishment of a 
resolution I felt I could no longer delay, and 
which I thank God He inspired me to act upon. 

I do not think you will blame me for not 
having followed the wise and prudent advice 
you gave me in your letter, but I had too strong 
a conviction that the moment was arrived. God 
in His merciful goodness removed all the ob- 
stacles in my way, I had the consolation of 
finding that my brother's chief objection to my 



208 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

wish was the fear that it would give pain to my 
godmother. I therefore resolved not to com- 
promise any one, and to be secretly received 
into the Church. For my own part, I accepted 
everything that could befall me, rather than die 
out of the communion of the true, the infallible 
Church, against which the gates of hell will 
never prevail. 

You know in how wonderful a manner God 
ordained it all, and have perhaps already in 
your heart thanked Him for His goodness to 
me and all of us. I am now as happy as I can 
possibly be, God having granted the prayers of 
so many pious souls who prayed for my return 
from that spiritual banishment which 1 hope 
never to be subjected to, though I must say that 
the kindness of my relatives by far exceeded 
my expectations. They have not only been 
indulgent, but tender and loving towards me, 
pitying rather than blaming me for what I have 
done. My uncle Alexis, especially, has been 
quite an angel of goodness in his behavior to me ; 
and old count Strogonoff*, whose severity with 
regard to religious matters is notorious, never 
gave me the least reason to suppose that he re- 
sented my conversion, and behaved to me in the 
most affectionate manner, not only when I saw 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 209 

him with my sisters, but also when I was alone 
with him. 

Poor Catharine goes back to Kussia, to our 
intense regret, and I should have shared the 
same fate had it not been for my decisive act at 
Venice ; for my other sisters tell me that they 
could never have otherwise ventured on the res- 
ponsibility of taking me with them. They have 
said this over and over again. I can only won- 
der at God's goodness, and bless him for it. How 
should I have ever resisted so long a trial ? — I, 
who am so weak and cowardly when human res- 
pect is in question. Oh, do not omit to say a 
prayer for me, and make an act of thanksgiving 
to the Divine Heart of our Lord and the most 
Holy Virgin Mary. I wish very much indeed 
to see you again, and I hope God will so ordain 
everything, in His great goodness, that this 
desire may be fulfilled."^ 

* Natalie Narischkin by Mrs. Craven, translated by Lady FuUerton. 



THE LIGHT OF FAITH. 



Where the raging waters of the ocean beat 
with fury against rocks, where sand-banks, 
whirlpools, and shallow places endanger navi- 
gation, there will be generally found erected, on 
an elevated rock in the midst of the waters, a 
light' house, or Pharos, in which a lamp is kept 
burning during the night, to warn the sailor 
against danger, and at the same time to show 
him the right way. There is an ocean full of 
whirlpools and shallow places, which all men 
must cross in the darkness of this life; but there 
is also a lamp burning in a high tower, warning 
all men against danger, and pointing out to 
them the way. It is the true light, which "en- 
lightens wonderfully from the everlasting hills" 
(Ps. LXXV. 5) ; " which enlighteneth every man 
that Cometh into this world" (John I. 9) with 
a true knowledge of right and wrong and with 
belief in eternal and supernatural truths. The 
divine wisdom desired not only to enlighten 
men, like a Pharos, from above and from afar. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 211 

but he wished also to come into the world with 
His life-giving light, in order to save the erring 
and to convert the sinner. And this is the pro- 
found mystery, veiled as it were, in the parable 
of the woman who, in order to find the groat 
which she had lost, lights a lantern, sweeps the 
house, and seeks diligently, — (Luke XV. 8.) 
The lost groat, with the impression of the great 
King of heaven and earth upon it, is man: the 
woman in the parable is the image of divine 
Providence; the lantern which she lights signi- 
fies the mystery of the Word made flesh. As 
in the lantern the light is covered with a glass 
case, so also was the divinity of Christ covered 
by his humanity. By means of this lantern, di- 
vine Providence has swept the whole house; 
for pride was humbled, poverty exalted, error 
cast out, and the whole world transformed and 
set in order, and the lost dignity of man found 
again; for " the Son of man is come to seek and to 
save that which was lost. " — (Luke XIX. 10.) 
Through the streets and public places of Ath- 
ens Diogenes walked in broad daylight with a 
burning lantern in his hand. Every one who met 
him asked laughingly, '^Diogenes, what dost 
thou seek?" And to all he gave the same scorn- 
ful answer, " I seek a man ! " He had desired this 



212 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

question to be asked, in order that he might 
answer as he did. In broad daylight also, un- 
der the rays of our sun, the Lord of true wis- 
dom walked upon earth, not in scorn, but in 
compassion : not in proud self-conceit, but in 
sweet humility ; not with a lantern, for he was 
himself the heavenly lantern, in which through 
the garment of humanity the sun of justice 
shone forth, and in which the heavenly fire de- 
scended upon earth. '' Lord, " we will ask him 
^' thou who art wonderful and meek, dost thou 
also seek men, that is, men made in the image 
of God, men who live in the fear of God!" And 
he answers us saying, '' I am come not to call the 
just, but sinners ! "—(Matt. IX. 13.) " I am the 
light of the world, he that f olloweth me walketh 
not in darkness. ^ ^ ^ He that doth truth 
Cometh to light, but one that doth evil hateth 
the light, and cometh not to light, for their 
works were evil. " — (John III. 19-21.) 

Thus the light came most lovingly to all, but 
all did not go forth to meet the light. If an 
honest traveller has gone astray in a forest, in the 
darkness of the night, what sight could be more 
welcome to him than to see a good man ap- 
proach him carrying a bright lantern in his 
hand? But if, instead of an honest man, 



TESTIMOiaES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 21 S 

thieves and murderers were concealed in the 
woods, the light would make them only furious, 
and the first thing they would do would be to 
break the lantern and extinguish the light. 
They also seek the light, but only with hatred 
and malice in their hearts. When, therefore, 
the heavenly lamp of Christ shone into the im- 
pure and dark soul of the Pharisees and high- 
priests, and penetrated their wicked thoughts 
and designs, they attacked him with great fury, 
branded his name, dishonored his memory, put 
him to death by crucifying him, broke the 
lantern, and, as they thought, extinguished the 
light forever. But no, they did not extinguish 
it ; the sepulchre of death could not conceal 
this immortal light ; the depths of the earth 
could not hide it, although it disappeared from 
before the eyes of men on the great Good Fri- 
day ; but it came forth again, more brilliant than 
the morning sun, at the first hour of Easter. 
It is for this reason that a deacon enters the 
church on Holy Thursday, holding in his hand 
a three-armed candlestick, and in a joyous tone 
calls out at the lighting of each candle, ^^ Behold 
the light of Christ ! " It has risen again, it 
shines brightly; and from that time it enlight- 
ens every heart in which Christ dwells through 



214 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

faith, and which is true to his commands ; for 
'' the commandment is a lamp, and the law a 
light ! " — (Prov. VL 23.) It shines and shows 
us the right path ; it directs us to the true end. 

Rev. Dr. John Emmanuel Veith, 
The Instruments of the Passion of Our Lord 
Jesus Christ. 



DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 



Moral education should certainly commence 
with the first dawn of reason, and ought to com- 
mence with the very first existence of the child. 
It is pitiful to see the destinies of an immortal 
soul committed to a young girl but a few months 
a wife, after a thoughtless marriage, the result of 
a thoughtless education. A jewel of exceeding 
beauty is committed to her keeping by One to 
whom she will have to give a grave account of her 
charge ; but does she think of this ? She may 
be the fondest and tenderest of mothers, but she 
may none the less cruelly neglect her child. 

She may be a neglectful, a cold, a cruel moth- 
er, and may look on her offspring as a hindrance 
to her happiness, instead of a God-sent blessing. 

Whatever may be her thought or her life, she 
is none the less responsible. She too has an im- 
mortal soul, has the faults and the responsibilities 
of a rational creature. She is responsible for 
this little spark of life committed to her keeping, 
for this heir of a kingdom which she may help 



216 COISTQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

or hinder his inheriting. There are few mothers 
who would not reproach themselves bitterly if 
they by any neglect injured the temporal pros- 
perity of their children ; but what shall we say 
of mothers who care nothing for their eternal 
welfare ? 

Neither wealth nor human wisdom are neces- 
sary qualifications for the eternal heirship, and 
yet are not these the things which the fond mo- 
ther most eternally desires for her child ? 

And why is this ? Is it not because she does 
not esteem faith as better than all the riches of 
Egypt ? It does not necessarily follow that such 
a mother is altogether indifferent to religion, 
much less that she disbelieves. No, she is only 
careless; she only prefers time to eternity; she 
only thinks more of this world than the next. 
And when her boy is grown to manhood, and 
joins the ranks of the highly cultivated scoffers 
of the men who use the intellect which God has 
given them to deny His existence or to question 
His power, she asks, How can this be ? Is this, 
indeed, her son ? Certainly she did not teach 
such lessons. No ; she only sowed the seed by 
her indifference ; and if this reaping is bitter to 
her, let her remember her own share in the 
harvest. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 217 

Her girls grow up frivolous, indifferent to 
paternal advice, perhaps a disgrace to their homes. 
Surely she did not teach them the lesson that 
they are now practising? Surely they never 
heard her say or do the evil which seems so 
strangely familiar to them? No; she only 
neglected to sow good seed ; she only left the 
tares to grow with the few grains of wheat. The 
crop of evil has sprung up rapidly ; there is little 
hope now to uproot the deeply-planted weeds. 

O mothers! for the love of the great and good 
God — for the love of your own eternal well- 
being — for the love of your offspring, whom you 
would shudder to see thrown to wild beasts, or a 
prey to furious animals, — do not, I beg you, do 
not cast them forth into the world to meet tempta- 
tions all unprepared, to do battle with the foe 
without weapon or defence. 

It is to be feared that the first thought of the 
mother, when she clasps her infant for the first 
time in her arms, is one of purely human tender- 
ness. We do not for one moment desire to 
undervalue the instincts or affections of matern- 
ity, rather would we see them deepen and 
widen, as one blessed hope for the Salvation of 
our race ; but this instinct of love which she 
has in common with the lower creation, is not 



218 COITQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

the noblest part of her being, and we desire to 
see woman fulfil her end in all its Divinely- 
ordained perfection. 

The mother clasps her infant to her breast, 
and nourishes it with her own life, but the 
Christian mother should do more, while giving 
every tenderest care to the mere animal life of 
her little one, she will think of its higher being, 
and she will do in that supreme moment an act 
of holiest worship. She will offer her infant to 
her God. She will beseech of him who has 
confided this precious deposit to her care, to en- 
able her to return it untarnished to His jewel- 
house. 

She will not ask that her little one may be 
distinguished for beauty or wealth, or even for 
merely intellectual gifts, but she will pray that 
it may be worthy of its immortality, that it may 
fulfill to the utmost perfection its end of life, 
that it may live God-like, and die crowned with 
the perfection of humanity. 

We have said that the mental education of 
children should commence even before the dawn 
of reason. How do you know what disposition 
of mind the child imbibes with its mother's 
milk ? 

Strange and mystical are the connections be- 



TE&TIMOIS^IES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 219 

tween soul and body, very marvellous are the 
effects of paternal ties. 

We may not altogether understand the cause, 
but we can scarcely deny the effect. Let the 
mother beware of her thoughts, her tempers, 
her inclinations, while this immortal being is 
dependent upon her for its physical existence. 

We can guess approximately at the first 
development of actual reason in a child, but the 
dawn precedes the day. The light is touching 
and illuminating the mountain peaks of intelli- 
gence, long before the plain is irradiated with 
its brightness. The light is not the plain, clear, 
or, if we may say so, sentient light of day, but 
there is light. 

Let us have a care what is done, and said, and 
thought before this young intelligence. Im- 
pressions will remain,though circumstances may 
be forgotten, and early impressions form a very 
important element in the formation of future 
character. 

You can train a child's moral faculties al- 
most from its cradle. 

Gentle deeds will teach it gentleness. Gentle 
ways will teach it courtesy. Gentle looks will 
calm its little storms of anger, and when it 
passes to the keener perception, the duty of the 



220 CONQUESTS OF OUE, HOLY FAITH; OE, 

mother is supreme. Let her not dare to dele- 
gate it to another. Let her act as if she were 
a responsible being, to whom the charge of res- 
ponsible beings has been given. 

If this mother's moral character has not been 
well cultivated, let her begin to cultivate it now. 
It is her most sacred duty, it is her most sol- 
emn obligation. She cannot act as preceptress 
to this immortal being, unless she has learned 
to know and to value her own immortality, 
unless she is fully aware of her responsibility. 

How can an impatient mother teach her child 
the grand strength of patience? How can a 
passionate mother teach her child self-control ? 
How can a mother who loves this world, and has 
sold herself body and soul to its vile deceptions, 
teach her child the lesson of immortality ? 
Sister Mary Frances Clare, 
Woman's Work in Modern Society. 



THE OEIGIN AND NECESSITY OP LAW, 



Some writers on natural jurisprudence fall 
into the error at the very outset of the science, 
by taking a maimed and imperfect view of the 
nature of man, and referring all that man ought 
to regard in the observance of natural laws to 
this temporary life only, and to its interests ; 
and so they deem themselves more philosophical, 
in proportion as they separate Religion from 
Natural Law.^ 

*^ We cannot take a more simple or a surer 
way for discovering the first principles of laws, 
than by laying down two primary truths, which 
are only bare definitions. One is, that the laws 
of man are the rules of his conduct, and the 
other, that his conduct is nothing else but the 
steps which a man takes towards the end for 
which he was created." ^ 

And we find the same principles in Puffen- 
dorf, where he says, that the dignity and excel- 

(1) Zalligne, Inst. Jur. Eccles. in Decretal. Prolog, chap. 2, 

Sec. 7, P. 8. 

(2) Domat, Loix Civiles, Traite des Loix, Chap. I. sec. 3. 



222 CONQUESTS OF OUK HOLY FAITH; OR, 

lence of man require that he should conform 
his actions to a certain rule, and that our soul 
is given to us whereby we may know the rule, 
not merely to animate the body and preserve 
it from corruption, but in order that, by good 
use of our faculties, we may serve our Creator, 
and also render ourselves happy.^ 

Now, these first notions of law show that it 
is impossible to separate the fundamental doc- 
trines of jurisprudence from Religion, unless 
you throw out of your consideration the more 
excellent part of man and the only permanent 
existence of which his nature is capable. To 
do so would be»a radical error, for, as Zallinger 
truly observes, nothing is more important in 
teaching the fundamental principles of law, than 
to consider the nature of man both correctly 
and completely. 

It follows, as Domat teaches, that in order to 
discover the foundation of the laws of man, it 
is necessary to know what is his end; because his 
destination to that end will be the first rule of 
the way which leads him to it, and consequen- 
tly his first law, and the foundation of all 
the others. 



(i) Puffen. Dr. des Gens, trad, par Barbeyrac, Liv. 2, chap, i, sec. $. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS, 223 

This, which we may call the directive aspect 
of law, is to be found in the celebrated defin- 
ition of St. Thomas Aquinas : Lex est qucedam 
regida et mensura secimdum qitani inducitur 
gitis ad agendum, vel ah agendo retrahitur. 
Suarez observes that this definition includes 
not only men but animals and inanimate 
things. And so it does, because those creat- 
ures are governed by rules directing them to 
their end, which is the purpose for which they 
are made.^ And those rules may be called 
laws, if (as Hooker says) we apply the word 
law not to that only rule of working, which a 
superior authority imposes by way of obligation 
but the more enlarged sense in which any kind 
of rule or canon, whereby actions are framed, 
is called a law. Both kinds of rules have this 
in common, that they direct things or persons 
towards the end for which they are created. 

Puffendorf examines Judiciously the question 
whether it would be consistent with the nature 
of man to live without any law.^ 

The question arises thus. As God has given 



(i) Suarez, De Deg.lib.l, cap. I, sec. i. And see Hooker^ Eccles. 
Polit. book I, sec. 3. 

(2) Suarez, ubi supr. et lib. 2, cap. 3, sec. 12. 

(3) Puffend. Dr. des Gens, I. 2, ch. i; per tot. Grot. D, de la G. 
and de la P. I. I, Disc Prelim. 



224 COl^QUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

free will to men, tliat is to say, the faculty of 
bringing their minds, by an interior movement, 
to whatever they approve, and rejecting the 
contrary, it has been doubted whether it would 
not have been conformable to the goodness of 
the Creator, to leave them in the full enjoyment 
of their liberty of will. Man is gifted with a 
greater power of free will than any other ani- 
mal possesses, and yet he is fettered on all 
sides by obligations, and is therefore less free 
than they. 

The answer to this difficulty is in the pro- 
position, that liberty without limit would be 
not only useless, but also pernicious to human 
nature ; and that therefore our own interest re- 
quires that our freedom should be restricted by 
some law. This principle is also important as 
giving a clue to the question how far free-will 
may reasonably be left without bridle. 

Suarez^ accordingly shows that law is neces- 
sary. He argues that law is not absolutely 
necessary in itself, because God does require 
law, and a law supposes something created, to 
be governed thereby. And a law, properly 
so-called, supposes the existence of a rational 



(i) Suarez, De Leg. lib. i, cap. 3. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 225 

creature, because it must be imposed on free 
will and free acts. But he concludes, that, as- 
suming the creation of rational beings, a law 
is DOt only useful but necessary to direct 
them to good and restrain them from evil, 
that they may live in a manner conformable to 
their nature. Man is an intellectual creature, 
and has a Superior, under whose providence 
and rule he is placed, and being intelligent, he 
is capable of moral government ; therefore, Su- 
arez argues, he must be subject to the will of 
that Superior whereby he is governed by law. 

With regard to animals, their condition is 
very inferior to that of man, and they can be 
subject to no law, properly so-called, in their 
relations with each other or with man, and thus 
they have liberty independent of law. The 
reason is that they have not souls capable of 
perceiving and knowing right or obligation.^ 

St. Thomas Aquinas teaches us, that, though 
the ultimate end of the Divine government of the 
world is exterior to the world , yet its immediate 
object is the order of things therein; from 
whence, indeed, he argues that there must be 
a Divine Providence, And he observes that 



(l) Puffen. lib. 2, ch. i. sec. 4. 



'226 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

inanimate things are governed without their ex- 
ercising judgment, that is to say, by natural 
causes and eflfects; and brutes, though they 
have a species of judgment, are governed by 
natural instinct. But mankind have judg- 
ment and free-will, liberum arbitrium ; and their 
actions, performed in the exercise thereof, are 
good when directed to the true end of man, ac- 
cording to reason.^ 

Puffendorf accordingly argues that the dig- 
nity of man, above other animals, requires that 
he should conform his actions to a certain rule, 
without which there would be no order or 
fitness in mankind,^ 

This is evident from the mental and physical 
power of doing evil, in which man surpasses all 
other animals — the number of his passions — the 
versatility of his mind — and the prodigious 
variety of character and disposition among men, 
which must cause horrible confusion unless 
brought to a certain harmony by laws; and 
that variety itself, duly regulated and control- 
led, becomes both beneficial and ornamental to 
human society. ' 



(i) Div. Thomas, Summa, quaest. ciii., art. i, 2 ; qusest. Ixiii., art. i. 

(2) Puffend., Droit des Gens, i. ii ch. i, sec. 5. 

(3) Puffend., ibid., sees. 6, 7. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 227 

That nature evidently requires what is called 
the social state, because the nature of man as a 
reasonable creature with an immortal soul 
points it out as the state for which he was in- 
tended by his Creator. ^ In this state alone can 
mankind satisfy all the wants which arise from 
the dignity of their nature. Now, unless we 
suppose the human race to consist of isolated 
individuals, which is absurd, men must be 
placed in various relations with each other ; and 
those relations generate obligations regulated by 
law or right; and in the social state those rela- 
tions, and the rules governing them, must be 
exceedingly complicated and numerous, includ- 
ing the duties of the man and the citizen. It 
is indeed impossible to conceive the social state 
fully accomplishing all the purposes for which 
it is intended, unless the actions of individuals 
are directed by rules of conduct which consti- 
tute law. 

Sib George Bowyer, Bart., 

Commentaries on Universal Public Law. 



(i) See my Readings at the Temple, p. 7, 



BREATHING THE SPIRIT OF GOD. 



Methinks we hear our Protestant friends in- 
quiring, ^^ What has given rise to this unusual 
excitement in the world ? 'What has caused the 
revival of Catholicity, not only in England* but 
in Germany, America, Russia, and even Sweden 
and Turkey ; not only do we see members of 
the Establishment, but of every other soi-disant 
religious body, flocking into the Catholic Church. 
To-day Wesleyanism gives up with a sorrowful 
lieart a Pritchard ; to-morrow records tlie re- 
ception of an Ida Hahn, a Petcherine, or 
a Boyliimie, and the next day a Professor 
of one of the ^ Godless Colleges, ' a Crofton or 
it may be a Gfroer, submits to the Chair of St. 
Peter, and sues for reconciliation witli the Rock 
of Ages ! It is the spirit of God, the Biiach 
Elohirn^ once more hovering over the face of 
the earth, and quickening men's souls, prepared 
in secret by Almighty God, and fitted into His 
Living Church like the stones in Solomon's 
temple, '^ which were made ready before they 
were brought to Jerusalem, so that there was 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 229 

neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron 
heard in the house when it was building. " So 
it has been now-a-days, for throughout the 
movement there has been no visible exertion (if 
we may except the form of prayer drawn up by 
his Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of West- 
minster, for the conversion of England, w^hile 
principal of the EngHsli College at Rome) 
made by the Church ; the pear fell as it ripened 
and was gathered into the garner ; the chrj^salis 
was converted into the butterfly, and the stone 
that ^'had been hewn and made ready else- 
where, " was brought to Jerusalem and fixed in 
its own place ; each convert, by God's grace 
w^orking out his ow^n salvation with a joyful fear, 
rejoiced in having found rest, true, genuine rest, 
for his soul ; it was the new spring: the winter 
had passed, the rain was over and gone. 

*' Truly, they who spread reports about the 
disappointment of converts little know liov) far 
beyond all xjotver of ivords to describe is their 
satisfaction and their happiness. It is as though 
they had passed from life to death — from shad- 
oivs to ideality — from longing to fruition. '' ^ 
Edwaed George Kirw^an Browne, 
Annals of the Tractarian Movement^ 1834-1868. 

* Supremacy of the Holy See, by R. K. Sconce. 



THE SPIRITUAL AND THE SECULAR 
POWER. 



In the discord between Church, and State, 
Godfrey, of Vendome, recognises the overthrow 
of all divine order; yet the reconciliation as it 
really took place, was possible, because Christian 
society was completely imbued with the desire 
of belonging entirely to the Church as the king- 
dom of God. She was completely conscious, 
(as we have proved in section 102, 116) of what 
divine right required for the relation of the two 
powers ruling the world ; and if in those ages it 
did not attain to the entire fullness of this idea, 
yet the fact, as far as was possible among men, 
closely approximated to this idea. But the de- 
cisive principle was this: Church and State must 
be united ; this concord, however, is only pos- 
sible by the general rejection of every opinion 
which the Church designates as erroneous, only 
possible under the supposition of the unimpeded 
action of the Church in the administration of 
the sacraments intrusted to her, only possible as 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 231 

soon as her freedom in her government and ad- 
ministration is acknowledged. But collateral 
with these rights, is the obligation entailed on 
the Church of respecting the free exercise of the 
secular power in its appropriate sphere, in so far 
as it violates not the divine law, compacts and 
lawful customs. As these principles were then 
realized, so political society dwelt with the 
Church in one and the same house. 

The Church was accordingly recognized as 
the all-embracing kingdom of God, wherein the 
highest secular potentates, as sheep belonging 
to Peter's fold, must come in at the door of the 
sheep-fold, which is Christ. Hence, in this 
kingdom all are mere subjects. 

If, accordingly, all Christendom forms in his- 
tory but one great kingdom, so, on the other 
hand, the assumption is not consistent with his- 
torical truth, that the popes, especially Gregory 
VII, had conceived the plan of founding a vast 
Theocracy, in the sense that all the kingdoms of 
the earth should be in a feudal relationship with 
the pontiff.* On the whole, in the later judg- 
ments which we form on history, we are too apt 
to consider it as the work of human design, and 



* Bianchi, Delia Potesta e della Potitia della Chiesa — torn, i p. 328 
and seq. 



232 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

to regard many an historical phenomenon, which 
has grown up according to the providence of 
Grod, as the result of the long devised and deep- 
ly meditated scheme of man. The popes had not 
any kingdom to found ; the kingdom in which 
they were the sacerdotal kmgs had been estab- 
lished by God Himself, and with all the great- 
ness of character many among them exhibit, 
they were still mere instruments in the hands of 
the Almighty for the furtherance of his designs. 
But they were useful and apt instruments for 
their divine Lord and Master ; and, inasmuch as 
they consented to be so, they have their share 
in the glory and splendor of the Church. When, 
therefore, the popes cast out of the communion 
of the Church even kings and emperors who 
had revolted against the laws of God, and dis- 
turbed it by secession and schism; when they 
bereaved them even of their thrones, and severed 
the bonds which united them and their sub- 
jects ; when, further, the holiest and most learn- 
ed writers of that age regarded this power of the 
popes as perfectly natural and legitimate ; so 
these are, on one hand, facts which had formerly 
not been brought out into equal prominence. 
But the former are no new discoveries of the 
human mind, and the latter no pretensions of 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 233 

human pride and ambition. Not, then, for the 
first time, had the popes become the successors 
of St. Peter ; not, then, for the first time^ had 
they received the power of binding and of 
loosing, nor the supreme ministry and sacer- 
dotal royalty. But then only could Peter in 
his successors exact from all societv, because it 
had become Christian and been subjected to 
him in Christ, the unqualified obedience, to 
which, in recompense of His love, the Saviour 
had brought the world under Him. The prin- 
ciple was not new, that two powers are to 
govern the world — the maxim was not new, 
that the secular power should be subordinated 
to the spiritual ; but it was only the com- 
parisons, under whose veil the dogmas were 
set forth by the loftiest minds of those ages, 
which (and that only in a partial degree) might 
be called novel. But those comparisons were 
beautiful and pertinent : the divinity of the two 
powers — their strength and their sharpness were, 
after the example of St. Bernard, fitly symbol- 
ized by the two swords which God had left on 
the earth. 

Dk. George Phillips, 

Canon Laiv. 



PLAIN SCEIPTUEES; OE 
THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF THE 
CHUECH, AND ITS PEEPETUAL 
VISIBILITY AND INFALL- 
IBILITY. 



Isaiah, chap. ii. v. 2, etc., ^Tt shall come to 
pass in the last days (so the Scripture calls the 
time from Christ's coming till the end of the 
world) that the mountain of the Lord's house 
(the Church) shall be established in the top of 
the mountains, and shall be exalted above the 
hills, and all the nations shall flow unto it and 
many people shall go and say, Come ye and let 
us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the 
house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach 
us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; 
for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the 
word of the Lord from Jerusalem: And he 
shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke 
many people : and they shall beat their swords 
into plough-shares and their spears into pruning 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 235 

hooks/' etc., which text is visibly to be under- 
stood of the Kingdom or Church of God, in 
which and by which he teaches and exercises 
judgment forever. 

Chap. ix. V. 6, 7, ^' Unto us a child is born, 
unto us a son is given, and His government shall 
be upon his shoulders : and His name shall be 
called Wonderful, Counseller, the Almighty 
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of 
Peace. Of the increase of His government and 
peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of 
David and upon His kingdom, to order and es- 
tablish it with justice and with judgment from 
henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord 
of hosts will perform this." This text informs 
us that the spiritual kingdom, that is, the Church 
of Christ, is by Him — ordered and established 
with judgment and with justice forever : ** And 
that of the increace of His government and peace 
therein, there shall be no end.'' 

Chap. XXXV. V. 4, 5, etc., '' Behold your God 
will come — He will come and save you. Then 
the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the 
ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall 
the lame man leap as a hart and the tongue of 
the dumb shall sing, " etc V. 8, ^' And a highway 
shall be there, and it shall be called the way of 



236 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

holiness, the unclean shall not pass over it, the 
way-faring men, though fools, shall not err there- 
in. '' Here the Church of Christ is described as 
a high- way, a way so plain and so secure, that 
the way-faring men, though fools, if they will 
be guided by her, shall not err therein. 

Chap. liv.,Tlie contents of which, according 
to the Protestant Bible,are : The amplitude of the 
Gentiles' Church, their safety, their deliverance 
out of affliction, their fair edification, and sure 
preservation. '' Enlarge the place of thy tent 
and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine 
habitations ; spare not, lengthen thy cords and 
strengthen thy stakes. For thou shalt break 
forth on the right hand and on the left, and 
thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make 
the desolate cities to be inhabited. For, as I have 
sworn that tlie waters of Noah should no more go 
over the earth : so have I sworn that I would not 
be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the 
mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed ; 
but My kindness shall not depart from thee, 
neither shall the covenant of My peace be re- 
moved, saith the Lord, that have mercy on 
thee.'^ V. 13, etc., '' And all thy children shall 
be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the 
peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt 



TESTIxMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 237 

thou be established : Thou shalt be far from op- 
pression, for thou shalt not fear ; and from terror, 
for it shall not come near thee. Behold, they 
shall surely gather together, but not by me : 
whosoever shall gather against thee, shall fall for 
thy sake. " V. 17. ^^ No weapon that is formed 
against thee shall prosper, and every tongue 
that shall arise against thee in judgment thou 
shalt condemn." Glorious promises of God's 
perpetual favor to His Church ; neither limited 
to any time, nor restrained by any condition ; 
but confirmed by an absolute oath like that 
which God had made to Noah, that there 
should not be a second flood. Gen. viii. and ix. 
Chap, lix, V. 19, 20, 21, ^^They shall fear 
the name of the Lord from the west, and his 
glory from the rising of the sun : when the en- 
emy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the 
Lord shall lift up a standard against him. 
And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and 
unto them that turn from transgressions in 
Jacob, saith the Lord, as for me, this is my 
covenant with them, saith the Lord. My spirit 
is upon thee, and my words which I have put 
in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, 
nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of thy 
seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and 



238 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

for ever. '^ A most illustrious promise of the 
perpetual presence of the spirit of God with the 
Church, and of God's ever maintaining in her 
mouth the pure profession of the whole doctrine 
of Christ. 

Chap. Ix. has for its contents, according to 
the editors of the Protestant Bible, The glory of 
the Church in the abundant access of the Gen- 
tiles, and the great blessing after a short afflic- 
tion, y. 1, ^' Arise, shine, for thy light is come, 
and the glory of the Lord is risen unto thee, '^ 
etc. V. 3, ''And the Gentiles shall come to 
thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy 
rising, '^ etc. V. 11, 12, ''Thy gates shall be 
opened continually ; they shall not be shut day 
or night, that men may bring to thee the forces 
of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be 
brought. For the nation and kingdom that 
will not serve thee shall perish. '^ V. 15, 16, 
"I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy 
of many generations. Thou shalt also suck 
the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the 
breast of the kings. '' V. 18, etc., ^' Violence 
shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor 
destruction within thy borders ; but thou shalt 
call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise. 
The sun shall be no more thy light by day, 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 239 

neither for brightness shalt the moon give light 
unto thee. Bat the Lord shall be unto thee an 
everlasting light, and thy God, thy glory. 
Tliy sun shall no more go down, neither shall 
thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be 
thine everlasting light, and the days of thy 
mourning shall be ended, '' etc. 

Chap. Ixii. '^ For Zion's sake I will not hold 
my peace, and for Jerusalem's (the Church's) 
sake I will not rest, until the righteousness 
thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation 
thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gen- 
tiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings 
thy glory, '' etc. V. 4, '' Thou shalt no more be 
termed forsaken : neither shall thy land any 
more be termed desolate — for the Lord de- 
lighteth in thee, " etc. V. 6, ^^I have set watch- 
men upon thy walls, Jerusalem, which shall 
never hold their peace day or night. " Here God 
insures to His Church a succession of watchmen, 
that is, of orthodox pastors and teachers, who 
shall perpetually publish His praises and teach 
His heavenly doctrine without ceasing. 

Jeremiah, chap, xxxi., V. 31, etc., '' Behold, 
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make 
a new covenant with the house of Israel, and 
with the house of Judah ; not according to the 
covenant that I made with their fathers in the 



240 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

day that I took them by the hand to bring* them 
out of the land of Egypt (which My covenant 
they broke, etc.) but this shall be the covenant 
that I w^ill make with the house of Israel after 
those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in 
their inward parts, and will write it in their hearts, 
and will be their Grod, and they shall be My 
people. And they shall teach no more every 
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, 
saying. Know the Lord. For they shall all 
know Me, from the least of them to the greatest 
of them, saith the Lord. '' So far of the estab- 
lishment of the New Law, and of the abundance 
of the knowledge and grace of God, with which 
the children of this New Law, that is, the children 
of the Church of Christ, should be replen- 
ished. What follows is to insure unto this 
Church of the New Law the perpetual contin- 
uance of these blessings, in the vitality of a 
numerous and ever visible society. V. 35, 36, 
37, *' Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the 
sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of 
the moon, and the stars for a light by night; 
which divideth the sea, when the waters thereof 
roar. The Lord of hosts is His name. If 
these ordinances depart from before me, 
saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also 
(the Church) shall cease from being a 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 241 

nation before Me forever. Thus saith the Lord, 
if heaven above can be measured, and the foun- 
dations of the earth searched out beneath : I will 
also cast off all the seed of Israel (the Church) 
for all that they have done, saith the Lord.'' 

Chap, xxxiii. V. 14, etc., ^' Behold, the days 
come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that 
good thing which I have promised unto the 
house of Israel and the house of Judah. In 
those days and at that time will I cause the 
branch of righteousness (Christ) to grow up unto 
David, and He shall execute judgment and 
righteousness in the land. In those days shall 
Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell 
safely; and this is the name wherewith He 
shall be called, the Lord of righteousness." So 
far of the coming of Christ for the work of our 
redemption ; what follows evidently relates to 
the perpetual continuance of the Church of 
Christ, His spiritual seed, and of her priesthood 
forever. V. 17, etc., '' For thus saith the Lord, 
David shall never want a man to sit upon the 
throne of Israel. (This is accomplished in Christ, 
the offspring of David, who reigns in His 
Church, the» spiritual house of Israel for ever. 
(St. Luke, i. v. 33.) ^^ Neither shall the priests, 
the Levites, want a man before Me to offer 
burnt-offerings, and to kindle meat-offering ^^> 



242 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

and to do sacrifice continually." (The prophet 
speaks of the Christian priesthood and its func- 
tions, under the notion of these sacrifices, which 
were at that time in use. Stillingfleet, Orig, 
Sacrse, 1, 2, c. 6, p. 189). V. 20, 21, ''Thus 
saith the Lord, if you can break My covenant 
of the day, and My covenant of the night, 
and that there should not be day and night, in 
their season: then may also My covenant be 
broken with David My servant, that he should 
not have a son to reign upon his throne ; and 
with the Levites, the priests. My ministers. As 
the host of lieaven cannot be numbered, so will 
I multiply the seed of David My servant, and 
the Levites that minister unto Me." "Now let 
the Jews tell," says Mr. Lesley, Clirisiianity De- 
monstrated^ 7th edit, p. 101, "in which son of 
David is this fulfilled, except only in our Christ ; 
and how this is made good to the priests and 
Levites otherwise than as Isaiah prophesied, 
chap. Ixvi. V. 21, ' And I will also take of them 
(the Gentiles) for priests and for Levites, saith 
the Lord,' " It must then be visible to all Chris- 
tians that this glorious promise relates to the 
Church of Christ ; and that all nature shall soon- 
er turn upside down, than the Church cease to 
have a continual succession of orthodox pastors. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 243 

Ezekiel, chap, xxxvii. V. 34, etc., visibly also 
relates to the Kingdom, that is, to the Church 
of Christ. " David My servant (that is, Christ, 
who is of the house of David) shall be king over 
them ; and they all shall have one shepherd : 
they shall also walk in My judgments, and ob- 
serve My statutes, and do them — moreover, I 
will make a covenant of peace with them, and it 
shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and 
I will place them, and multiply them, and will 
set My sanctuar y in the midst of them forever- 
more, " — So far of the Church of Christ. 

Daniel, chap, ii., interpreting the dream of 
Nebuchadnezzar, V. 34, 35, ''Thou sawest till 
that a stone cut out without hands, which smote 
the image upon his feet — and broke them to 
pieces — and the stone that smote the image be- 
came a great mountain, and filled the whole 
earth. '^ V. 44, '^ And in the days of these kings 
shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom (the 
Church or Kingdom of Christ) whicli shall 
never be destroyed — and it shall stand forever." 

Psalm xlviii. was written, according to the 
publishers of the Protestant Bible, of the orna- 
ments and privileges of the Church. V. 1, etc, 
'' Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, 
in the City of our God, in the mountain of His 



244 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

holiness (that is, in His Church) ; beautiful for 
situation, the joy of the whole earthy is Mount 
Zion, (the Churcli) on the sides of the North, 
the city of the great king. God is known in her 
palaces for a refuge, " etc. V. 8, "' As we have 
heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord 
of hosts, in the city of our Grod ; Grod will estab- 
lish it forever.'^ 

Psalm Ixxii., under the type of Solomon and 
his kingdom, was also written in truth of Christ 
and his kingdom, that is, his Church. V. 5, 
'' They shall fear thee as long as the sun and 
moon endure th, throughout all generations. '' 
V. 7, " In His days (that is, after the coming of 
Christ) shall the righteousness flourish, and 
abundance of peace so long as the moon endur- 
eth.'^ V. 8, '' His dominion shall be also from 
sea to sea, and from the river unto tlie ends of 
the earth" V. 11, '' All kings shall fall down 
before Him, and all nations shall serve Him, etc.'' 

Psalm Ixxxix. relates also to Christ and His 
Church, V. 3 and 4, ^^ I have made a coven, 
ant witli My cliosen, I have sworn unto David 
My servant : thy seed (Christ and His Church) 
will I establish forever, and build up thy throne 
to all generations." V. 27, etc., " I will make 
him My first-born, higher than the kings of the 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED C0NVERT8. 245 

earth. My mercy will I keep for him forever- 
more, and My covenant shall stand fast with 
him. His seed will I also make to endure for- 
ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If 
his children forsake My law, and walk not in 
My judgments, if they break My statutes, and 
keep not My commandments : then will I visit 
their transgressions with the rod, and their ini- 
quities with stripes. Nevertheless, My loving 
kindness will I not utterly take from them, nor 
suffer My faithfulness to fail: My covenant will I 
not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of 
My lips. Once have I sworn by My holiness, 
that I. will not lie unto David. His seed shall en- 
dure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me. 
It shall be established forever as the moon, and 
as a faithful witness in heaven/' Which glorious 
promise is understood of the Church of Christ, 
the spiritual seed of David, by Calvin himself, L. 
4 Inst., C. 1, Sect. 27 ; and, indeed, cannot by 
any Christian be applied to the carnal seed and 
throne of David, which is long since gone to ruin. 

Psalm cxxxiii. V. 13, 14, '' The Lord hath 
chosen Zion, (the Church) He hath desired it 
for His habitation. This is My rest forever : 
here will I dwell, for I have desired it." 

St. Matthew, chap. xvi. V. 18, '' I say to 



246 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

thee, thou art Peter (that is, a rock) and upon 
this rock I will build my Church, and the gates 
of hell shall not prevail against it. '^ 

Chap, xviii. V. 17, 18, ''If he shall neglect 
to hear them, tell it to the Church. A.nd if he 
neglects to hear the Church, let him be unto thee 
as a heathen man, and a publican. Verily I say 
unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall 
be bound in heaven, whatsoever ye shall loose on 
earth shall be loosed in heaven. " 

Chap, xxviii. V. 18, 19, 20, "All power is 
given unto Me in heaven and earth. Go ye, 
therefore, and teach all nations ; baptizing them 
in the name of the Father, etc., teaching them to 
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded 
you : and lo, I am with you always, even unto 
the end of the world." 

St. Luke, chap. i. V. 33, " He (Christ) shall 
reign over the house of Jacob (the Church) for- 
ever ; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. " 

Chap. X. y. 16, " He that heareth you (the 
pastors of the Church) heareth Me : and he that 
despiseth you despiseth Me: and he that de- 
spiseth Me, despiseth him that sent Me. " 

St. John, chap. x. V. 16. '^ Other sheep I 
have, which are not of this fold ; them also must 
I bring, and they shall hear my voice, and 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 247 

there sliall be one fold and one shepherd. " 

Chap. xiv. y. 16, 17, "I will pray the 
Father, and he shall give jou another Comforter 
that he may abide with you forever, even the 
Spiril of Truth.'' V. 26, '^The Comforter, 
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will 
send in My name, he shall teach all things. " 

Chap. xiv. V. 13, '' When He, the spirit of 
Truth, is come, he will guide you in all truth." 

Ephesians, chap. iv. V. 11, 12, etc., ^^He 
gave some Apostles, etc., and some pastors and 
teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the 
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body 
of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the 
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, 
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the 
stature of the fullness of Christ ; that we may 
henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, 
and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by 
the sight of men, and cunning craftiness, where- 
by they lie inwwt to deceive; but speaking the 
truth in love, may grow up into Him in all 
things, which is the head, even Christ, etc." 

Right Eev. and Veneeable 

Richard Challoner, D.D.,V.A. 
The Grounds of the Old Religion. 



THE CONVENT OF 

THE HELPEESOF HOLY SOULS AT 

ZI-KA-WEI, CHINA. 



One of the nuns thus describes it: Our 
front door, which is the only entrance to the 
house, opens on a road bordering the canal. 
Three Chinese letters are carved on its portal. 
The meaning of this inscription is, "Temple 
where the Sacrifice of Perfumes is offered,'' 
• and this satisfies the curiosity of the natives, 
whose boats are continually passing to and fro 
along the canal. Nothing meets their eye but 
the front of our pretty chapel. The inside of 
the enclosure is hidden by tall hedges; it con- 
tains a large rectangular square, surrounded by 
a variety of buildings appropriated to our 
works of charity. The Sen-mou-ieu, or Gar- 
den of Mary, occupies the side opposite to the 
site of the entrance, and comprises the school 
and the congregation of native Sisters. On 
the right-hand side is the building occupied by 
the Helpers of the Holy Souls, and facing it to 
the left, the Orphanage. 



TESTIMOlSriES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 249 

It cannot be denied that the vocation to such 
a Mission as that of China requires, in those who 
devote themselves to it, a more than ordinary 
zeal and apostolic fortitude. St. Francis Xav- 
ier says, in one of his letters to the religious of 
his society: ^Ah, I fear that, amongst those who 
come from Coimbra to the Indies, there may be 
some who, when they find themselves tossing 
on a stormy ocean, may wish themselves in the 
seminary rather than on board the tempest- 
driven vessel. There are feverish fits of virtue 
whichi sea-sickness speedily cures, and perhaps 
not even all who may land at Goa with un- 
abated ardor will prove equal to the trials to 
be met with among a barbarous people, and in 
the midst of all the dangeis that will surround 
them. If virtue has not laid deep root in their 
► souls, zeal and ardor will cool by degrees, and 
end by disappearing, and he who pined in 
Portugal to be sent to India, will pine in India 
to return to Portugal.' 

The same warning might be addressed to 
every nun who desires to offer herself for the 
Chinese Mission. .Continual abnegation must 
be the watchword, the motto and the daily 
practice of Christ's helpers in that heathen land. 
It fares badly with her if she has fallen short 



250 COIN^QUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

of lier high destiny — if aught of human has 
mingled with the supernatural desire of suffer- 
ing with and like her Lord, and for the sake of 
souls, for whom we never work in vain on earth. 
But, if she has realized the sublimity of her 
vocation, nothing daunts, nothing disheartens, 
nothing saddens her spirit — not even the stolid 
indifference of the heathen — not even the slow- 
ness of the growth of that seed which she sows 
in tears, and which will be reaped perhaps in 
J^y l>y others, when she has laid down her life 
in a foreign soil. She prepares her soul in 
patience, and in patience labors to win those 
whom her Divine Lord has marked out for her 
portion. She unites to the outward apostleship 
of her life the secret apostleship of personal 
sanctification, in her case amounting to heroism. 

The Helpers of the Holy Souls [>reserve the 
habits, the dress, and to a certain degree use 
the same food as in Europe, but privations are 
not wanting of that sort also. The nights are 
often intensely cold, the mornings and even- 
ings damp, the heat of the sun at noon over- 
powering. They have no water but that of the 
Canal, which has to be boiled and filtered before 
it can be used. 

The flatness of the country, only relieved by 



TESTIMOT^IES OF BISTIISTGUISHE D COIHrERTS. 251 

the hillocks on which the Chinese bury their 
dead, gives a melancholy and monotonous 
character to the surrounding scenery, but, if 
the aspect of nature is depressing, there is a 
well spring of Joy in the souls of the nuns, 
which, if the world did know of it, might 
well excite its envy. 

The Orphanage of the Holy Childhood is a 
most arduous, trying, and at the same time 
interesting work of charity. It shelters more 
than two hundred poor little girls, abandoned 
by their parents chiefly on account of their 
ugliness or their infirmities. These unhappy 
creatures are left on the roadside, or at the door 
of the convent, or sometimes thrown over the 
wall into the enclosure, scantily covered by a 
few rags, or wrapped up in straw, often half- 
devoured by vermin and a variety of diseases. 
Many of them die, but not bef )re Baptism has 
opened up for them the gates of heaven. Those 
who survive are employed, according to their 
age and strength, in the garden or in spinning 
and weaving; they are taught household work> 
and at stated hours learn their prayers, and are 
instructed in the Cathechism. Those who grow 
up strong and healthy are easily married, if they 
desire it, in Christian families, who are most 



252 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

desirous to obtain for their sons well-educated 
young persons, able to make themselves useful 
in all manner of housework and needlework. 
Others are received into native Christian families 
rather as adopted children than as servants, and 
the nuns continue to watch over their welfare. 
The permanent inmates of the Orphanage are 
therefore the lame, the blind, the helplessly 
infirm, for whom a hospital has been provided in 
a separate building from the school. (Slreat 
sufferings are constantly witnessed within its 
walls ; deformity and disease, produced by 
neglect in infancy, sadden those innocent lives ; 
but the patience of the little sufferers, their 
keen enjoyment of the pleasure which the nuns 
contrive for them, and their edifying deaths, 
throw a halo of brightness even over this abode 
of infirmity and pain. Christmas with its 
creche^ and its trees, and its sports, such as the 
poor little tilings can join :n — is haled there as 
elsewhere, and their joy brings to the mind of 
their devoted mistresses many an echo, no doubt, 
of similar joys in their far distant homes in 
the days of their own childhood. Strange 
power of grace, strange spirit of sacrifice, which 
turns even the sharpest pangs of memory into 
subjects of thanksgiving, and every pain that 



TE&TIMOKIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 25o 

darts through the heart into a new offering to 
that Divine Heart of Jesus, which has known 
the tenderest emotions of human affection! 

Lady Georgiana Fullerton 
The Life of Mere Marie de la Providence. 



LETTER OF DAVID RICHARD 

TO MONSEIONEUR R.ESS, BISHOP OF 

STRASBOURG. 



At the end of the year 1830 I came to Paris 
to continue the study of medicine. I found 
that amongst men of my own age Catholicism, 
and indeed all forms of Christianity, were held 
in great disrepute, llie Saint Simonians and 
Fourierists were then beginning to lay claim 
to the power of radically changing the form of 
society and of giving to the world a new reli- 
gion. They talked loudly of the dow^nfall of 
dogmatism ; they maintained that the doctrines 
of self-renunciation and self-denial were old- 
fashioned notions , which had had their day; 
they asserted in the public assemblies the rights 
of the flesh and the privileges of the passions. 
These revolutionary doctrines only disgusted 
me, and led me to long and deep reflection. I 
soon discovered that the little ^ood they re- 
tained was borrowed from Christianity, and 
that all that was new in them was not good, 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTIIS^GUISHED CONVERTS. 255 

and tended directly to pride and to materialism. 
From that time I felt a profound antipathy to 
materialism, although I was much occupied with 
physiology, medicine, and natural history, and 
was studying phrenology with great interest 
under Dr. Spurtzheim. I had also the oppor- 
tunity of maintaining at several meetings, and 
in some writings, the truth of spiritual doctrines 
asrainst numerous adversaries. 

It was at this time that MM. De Lamennais, 
Gerbert, and De Montalembert were publishing 
X' Avenh% and presenting Catholicism under an 
aspect entirely new to me. For the first time 
I lieard the harmony of the Catholic religion 
with civil libert}^ proclaimed ; and dimly per- 
ceiving the approaching realization of the ideal 
I was pursuing, I felt my old Protestant pre- 
judices giving way. 

In 1883 1 became acquainted with M. De La- 
mennais ; and I was not long in forming an in- 
timacy with tiiis great writer, who, in the early 
part of his career, rendered such eminent 
services to the Church. He invited me to his 
quiet retreat at La Chenaie in Brittany. I 
made my first visit there in 1834, and 1 spent 
the whole of the year 1835 nearly alone with 
him. Eeligion was the habitual topic of our 



256 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

long conversations, and we discussed together 
the substance of his book, the sketch of a 
philosophy upon which he was then occupied. 
While I compelled myself to defend before him 
the utility and legitimacy of the Protestant Re- 
formation, he victoriousl}^ combated my argu- 
ments; and by degrees he initiated me into a 
knowledge of the grandeur of Catholicism^ 
with relation to its dogmas in themselves and in 
their moral and social application. To this kind, 
and disinterested, and sincere friend I owe the 
first thought of my conversion, and I shall 
ever remember him with the deepest gratitude. 
I should, however, confess tliat at this time I 
sought to turn the discussion of M. De Lamen- 
nais with Rome against the Catholic Church, 
and to drive him into Protestantism. But these 
insidious attempts always revolted him, and he 
answered with an energetic — Never. M. De La- 
mennais was then far removed from the opinions 
which he professed at a later period, when, ab- 
sorbed in politics, he allowed his faith in the 
supernatural government of the world to grow 
dim, and wander fearfully in the wilderness 
of rationalism. The eclipse of so great a genius 
was one of the greatest sorrows of my life. It is 
a terrible proof of the frailty of human reason, 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 257 

when it disdains the support of religion. I can 
but deeply humble myself before the wondrous 
ways of God. I was in error, M. De Lainennais 
defended the truth; and now, how changed our 
relative position ! We never ceased, it is true, 
to love and esteem each other; but I have em- 
braced the truth which he pointed out to me, 
and he has fallen into the error I have re- 
jected. 

I return, my lord, to my sojourn at La 
Chenaie. It was during this time of reflection 
that I read M. TAbbe Gerbet's excellent book 
on the Dogme generateiir dii CathoUcisme, the 
lives of Fenelon and Bossuet by Cardinal 
Bausset, several treatises of Malebranche, tlie 
life of St. Thomas Aquinas by Father Touron, 
and the Smnma of this doctor of the Church, so 
rightly called the Angelical. This last work, to 
which I devoted several months, revealed a 
world of ideas altogether new to me ; and as I 
was reperusing Dante at the same time, I was 
astonished to find in this poem nearly all the 
solutions of the most abstruse questions given 
in the Siimma. 

I read also successively the Friendly Confer- 
ences of Monseigneur de Trevern ; The Faith of 
our Fathers^ by M. Renouard de Bressiere, and 



258 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

Frotestantism Compared tvitli Catholicism^ by J. 
Balmez. The two first works deepened my con- 
victions touching' dogmas ; but Belmez's book 
made the most beneficial impression upon my 
mind. He treats, in fact, of all those questions 
about which I was most in doubt with unan- 
swerable power: such as the rehitions of faith 
and science, of temporal and spiritual authority, 
of religion and liberty, of the comparative in- 
fluence of Catholicism and Protestantism on the 
progress of literature, the arts, and the sciences, 
and the true happiness of nations. He points 
out clearly that, during the eighteen centuries 
and a half of its existence, with the exception of 
a few individual and temporary mistakes, 
Catholicism always upheld and defended the 
liberty of the people against the encroachments 
of the secular power; that democratic republics 
and monarchies have alike flourished under its 
protection; that the cruelties of the Inquisition 
and the massacre of St. Bartholomew were to be 
referred not to it, but to the temporal govern- 
ment ; and, finally, that it has never normally, 
and when acting under regular authority, used 
other weapons than the peaceable ones of pray- 
er, preaching, and example. 

I was thus led to examine the respective merits 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 259 

of Protestantism and Catholicism. Tlie antiquity 
of Catholicism, its unity, its universality, the 
noble army of its saints and martyrs, who during 
eighteen hundred years have sacrificed them- 
selves in order to enlighten, convert, and al- 
leviate the pangs of suffering humanity ; the 
numerous religious institutions which arose in 
rapid succession to propagate the faith, to inter- 
cede for sinners, to awaken hope, and which, in 
accordance with the special needs of each period, 
extended their works of charity in a thousand 
varying forms ; all these considerations led me to 
acknowledge the transcendent superiority of the 
Catholic Church over Protestant communities; 
and I failed not to discern abundant proofs of the 
conchision to which I had been brought. Pro- 
testantism came before me with the disadvan- 
tage of being offspring, of revolt, of having 
broken the thread of tradition, and of liaviiig 
shivered dogmatic and practical unity into frag- 
ments, by admitting the doctrine of private 
judgment, wliich makes as many rehgions as 
there are individuals. 1 found that it had never 
laid the foundation of anything really good or 
histing which was not a plagiarism from Catholi- 
cism ; nor had it ever produced those miracles of 
holiness, charity, and devotednesSj which the 



2G0 CONQIIESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

latter displays in every page of her history. 

I was struck, besides, by the consideration 
that the divers sects of Protestantism, with all 
the differences which confuse the mind, are but 
the scattered gleaning-s, the small-change, so to 
speak, of the grand and unchanging w^iole 
which constitutes Catholicism. I found in 
Lutheranism a kind of doctrine of the real pres- 
ence ; in Anglicanism, an ecclesiastical hier- 
archy; in Calvinism, a sort of pope, narrow and 
tyrannical, it is true, and a formal contradiction 
of the doctrine of private judgment; in others, 
faith in the efficacy of prayers for the dead, and 
consequently an implicit belief in purgatory; 
then, again, in Methodism and Pietism, a strict- 
ness of virtue and moral which remind one of 
Catholicism. By piecing together those shat- 
tered fragments of the mirror of divine truth I 
could almost reconstruct Catholicism ; but a 
Catholicism of bits and fragments laid side by 
side, without cement, without consistence, with- 
out unity, without life. 

My lord, the grace which has been vouchsafed 
me imposes upon me great duties. I acknowl- 
edge with confusion how altogether unworthy 
1 was, and still am, of so great a grace ; but I 



TESTIMOJSriES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS, 261 

shelter my weakness beneath your lordship's 
protection, and I trust, with the help of God, to 
grow in faith, hope, and love. Although I am 
so recently admitted into that undying Church 
whose visible head is at Kome, I would be one of 
its humblest and most faithful children. 

I pray you, my lord, to continue to me your 
fatherly kindness, and to accept the homage of 
my most tender respect and grateful submission 
in Jesus Christ. 

David Richab-d. 



FRANCISCAN ORDER. 



It is difficult to realize in tliis nineteenth cen- 
tury tlie extraordinary attraction which the ex- 
ample and preaching of St Francis exercised on 
his contemporaries. Long before the final con- 
firmation by Honorious III., the Friars Minors 
(such was the name which the founder in his 
humility chose for them) had made their way 
into the principal countries of Europe, preach- 
ing penance and founding convents. St. Francis 
himself visited Spain in 1214, and was well re- 
ceived by Alfonso IX., the grandfather of St, 
Louis of France, and founded houses of his or- 
der at Burgos and other places. In 1216 he 
sent Pacifico, who had been a trouvere and was 
called the "' king of verse,'' to France, Bernard 
of Quintavalle to Spain, and John of Penna to 
Germany, besides many others whom he des- 
patched to various parts of Italy. The noble 
instructions, full of divine light and evangelical 
fire, with which he dismissed them — instruc- 
tions on the whole so faithfull}^ observed by his 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 263 

followers — go far to explain the wonderful suc- 
cess which has attended them in eveiy age in 
doing their Master's work. Amongst other 
things he said, '' Let your behavior in the world 
be sLich that every one who sees or hears you 
may praise the Heavenly Father. Preach peace 
to all; but have it in your hearts still more than 
on your lips. Give no occasion of anger or scan- 
dal to any, but by your gentleness lead all men 
to goodness, peace, and union. We are called to 
heal the wounded, and recall the erring." 

No order in the Church has surpassed the 
Franciscans in zeal for the propagation of the 
gospel. St. Fj^ancis himself visited the Holy 
Land, and endeavored to convert the Sultan of 
Egypt, (1220), and sent five friars to Morocco, 
who were all martyred. Franciscans preached 
in Tartary about the middle of the 13th century, 
and in China and Armenia before the end of it. 
By a bull of Clement VL (1342) the guardian- 
ship of the holy places at Jerusalem was com- 
mitted to the order, and they still retain it. 
Franciscan missions were established in Bosnia 
in 1340, in Biils-aria about 1366, and in Geoima 
in 1370. We find them taking a large share in 
the conversion of the natives of the Canary Isles 
in and after 1423 ; they got into Abyssinia in 



264 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

1480, and established a mission on tlie Congo, 
which for a long time bore great fruit, about 
1490, The order was instrumental in the dis- 
covery of America. Fr. John Perez de Marchena, 
guardian of a convent near Seville, himself a 
learned cosmographer, entered warmly into the 
designs of Columbus, and used his influence with 
Isabella the Catholic, whose confessor he had 
been, to persuade her to fit out the memorable 
expedition of 1492. In the following year Fr. 
John himself went to America, and opened the 
first Christian Church in the New World, at a 
small settlement in the Island of Hayti. Not 
to speak of the Franciscan missions in India, 
Brazil, and Peru — ^in all which countries other 
orders effected yet more — ^it was Observantine 
friars who were welcomed to Mexico by Cortez 
in 1523, and who, under their holy leader, 
Martin de Valenza, planted Christianity firmly 
in that empire, whence they went forth to preach 
the gospel in New Mexico (1580), in Texas 
(1600), and, lastly, in California (1769). 

The order of St. Francis has given five popes, 
more than fifty cardinals, and an immense num- 
ber of patriarchs and bishops to the Church. 
The great statesman Cardinal Ximenes was a 
Franciscan. Among the schoolmen, St. Bona- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 265 

venture, the Seraphic Doctor; Duns Scotus, the 
Subtle Doctor ; Alexander of Hales, the Irre- 
fragable Doctor ; and William of Ockham, (the 
three last being natives of the British Isles), 
w^ere members of this order. Its history is re- 
corded in the elaborate ^' Annals " of Fr. Luke 
Wadding, an Irish Franciscan of the seven- 
teenth century. 

Revs. William E. Addis and Thos. Arnold, 

Catholic Dictionary. 



EEASON. 



Patience, indulgent reader, and be careful and 
not fall into the mistake, which is not seldom 
made, of taking the speculations of a certain 
class of men, called philosophers, for a fair, 
adequate, and faithful expression of the capa- 
bilities and powers of Reason. 

What Reason is capable of doing, and what 
this class of men liave done, are two distinct and 
separate things, and should not, therefore, be 
confounded. The ability of Reason is one thing, 
and the exercise of Reason by a class of men 
who were not altogether free from prejudice 
passion, superstition, and, in some jinstances of 
most shocking vices, is quite another thing. 
Reason is by no means implicated in the con- 
demnation of the abuse made of her ])ow- 
ers, or of the unfaithfulnes of her plainest 
dictates. Failing to make this distinction, an 
injustice has not seldom been done to Reason, 
her riofhts even sacrificed, and the cause of truth 
made to suffer deplorable injury. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 267 

No hostile feeling actuates us towards philo- 
sophy, for, after theology, philosophy is the 
noblest occupation of man's intellectual powers. 
But our interest and affection for the cause of 
truth is above all others, and we cannot but ac- 
knowledoi'e that one of the most humiliatinof 
pages of man's intellectual history is that of phil- 
osophy. When we read this page, it would seem 
that this class of men, instead of bending all 
tlieir efforts to strengthen and support the prim- 
ary and universal convictions of mankind, have 
somehow done their utmost to unsettle and 
overthrow their everlastinir foundations. 

How many of the ancient and modern philoso- 
phers employed Reason as a cloak to conceal 
their vanity, pride, or ambition? How many, 
under the pretext of friendsliip for Reason, ex- 
aggerated her powers, and became tlie dema- 
gogues of Reason ? How many made Reason 
their slave, so tliat. to use the language of Cicero, 
'' there is no absurdity, however great, in defence 
of which you will not find some one of the philo- 
sophers who has prostituted the powers of 
Reason.'' ^'Religion and morality they never 
cared for to any part of the extent of their re- 
ligious and moral natural abilities. These have 
been uniformly sacrificed in a vain endeavor 



268 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

to appease the disordered cravings that Reason 
and Free-will, assisted as they always are, should 
have struggled to return and overcome." ^' 

Let it be clearly understood, then, that what 
we blame and deprecate in the class of men called 
philosophers, is not Reason, but the want of it ; 
not the exercise of Reason, but the neglect of its 
exercise; not the use of Reason, but its wilful 
abuse. '' They detained the truth of God in 
injustice,'' — to use the strong language of the 
Apostle of the Gentiles. Because they knew 
God, and did not glorify Him as God, or give 
thanks, but became vain in their thoughts, their 
foolish hearts were darkened. For professing 
themselves wise they became fools. And they 
changed the glory of the incorruptible God into 
the likeness of the image of corruptible man, 
and of birds and four-footed beasts, and of 
creeping things. . . . They changed the truth of 
God into a lie ; and worshipped and served the 
creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed 
forever . . , And as they liked not God in their 
knowledge, God delivered tliem up to a repro- 
bate sense, to do these things which are not 
convenient." t 



"" Dr. Manrahan. t Rom. c. I. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 269 

Let not the friends of Reason, then, be dis- 
mayed, or fearful that in casting off the false 
and vain speculations of philosophers, Reason 
thereby is in any way condemned or depreciat- 
ed. On the contrary, it is in the august name 
of Reason that we declare that ancient and 
modern philosophy have failed in a most de- 
cided, not to say shameful manner, to meet the 
great questions which agitate the human mind. 
It is by the light of Reason, and on its author- 
ity, we are bold to give deliberate and emphatic 
decision against their speculations as the fruits 
of a fair, impartial, and faithful exercise of its 
powers. 

It is no part of Catholicity to teach the 
worthlessness of Reason, or to disparage its 
noble and sublime efforts. It was by the 
efforts of Reason that the ancient sages 
and philosophers, in their better moments, 
raised their minds above the visible world, to 
the First True, the First Good, the First Fair, 
the Creator and Exemplar of all things, the only 
true and eternal God. Led by the light of this 
sovereign faculty, they discovered many great 
and most important truths, that have made 
their writings an everlasting monument of the 
greatness, grandeur, and glory of human genius. 



270 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR, 

This divine gift has inspired, in both ancient 
and modern times, the beautiful works of art, 
the wonderful discovei'ies of science, and the 
magnificent inventions of mechanical ingenuity. 

Catholicity, tlierefore, has the highest appre- 
ciation of Reason, stimulates its activity, and 
welcomes with joy its discoveries. '' This most 
tender mother, the Catholic Church, recognizes 
and justly proclaims," says the reigning sov- 
ereign PontiiF, '' that among the gifts of Heaven 
the most distinguished is that of Reason, by 
means of which we raise ourselves above the 
senses, and present in ourselves a certain image 
of Grod. Certainly the Church does not con- 
•demn the labors of those who wish to know the 
truth, since God has placed in human nature 
the desire of laying hold of the truth ; nor does 
she condemn the efforts of sound and right 
Reason, by which the mind is cultivated, nature 
is searched, and her more hidden secrets brouglit 
to light." ^ 

Consequently, the geologist ma v dig deep in- 
to the bowels of the earth, till he reaches the in- 
tensest heats ; the naturalist may decompose 
matter, examine with the microscope what es- 



* Pius IX. Letter to the Bishops of Austria, 1856. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 271 

capes our unaided observation, and unveil to 
our astonished gaze tlie secrets of nature ; the 
astronomer may multiply liis lenses till his ken 
reaches the empyrean heights of heaven ; the 
historian may consult the annals of nations, and 
unriddle the hieroglyphics of the monuments of 
bygone ages ; the moralist may expose the most 
delicate folds of the human heart, and probe it to 
its very core; the philosopher may, with his 
critical faculty, observe and define the laws 
which govern man's sovereign reason ; and 
Catholicity is not alarmed ! Catholicity invokes, 
encourages, solicits your boldest efforts ; for 
at the end of all your earnest researches, you 
will find that the fruits of your labors confirm her 
teachings, and that your genuine discoveries 
add new gems to the crown of truth which 
encircles her heaven-inspired brow. 

Very Rev. I. T. Hecker, 
Aspirations of Nature. 



THE SPIKIT OF JANSENISM. 



Jansenism was a planned, systematic conspiracy 
against Rome ; but not in the same sense as that 
of Luther and Calvin. Geneva and Augsburg 
waged open war; Jansenism was a secret plot. 
Its strength did not lie in its doctrines, but in 
the terrible tenacity with which its disciples 
clung to them, and no less terrible obstinacy 
with which they determined to remain with- 
in the visible communion of the Church 
of God, for the very purpose of eating 
into its vitals, and braving its decrees. That 
there was from the first a conscious plot to form 
a party within the Catholic Church, and to over- 
whelm her, there is abundant evidence to prove. 
That there was at the outset of the existence of 
Jansenism a dishonest scheme of remaining 
within the Church to alter her whole discipHne, 
and to thrust upon her doctrines which were not 
hers, is sufficiently plain. Before the publica- 
tion of the Augustinus, before what was called 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 273 

Jansenism existed, tlie eagle eye of Richelieu 
had been fixed on St. Cyran, and the future 
heresiarch had been lodged in Vincennes. The 
act may have been arbitrary, but there was 
abundant evidence of a conspiracy against the 
Church in the huge collection of manuscripts 
found in his cabinet. When entreated to release 
St. Cyran from his prison, Riclielieu answered : 
'' If Luther and Calvin had been dealt with as I 
have dealt with St. Cyran, France and Germany 
would have been spared the torrents of blood 
which have inundated tliem for fifty years.'^ 
Richelieu, prompt as he was, in this case was 
too late ; St. Cyran's party had already been 
formed, and its most important acquisitions made 
before he was consigned to liis prison. E ver}^ one 
knows the wonderful outburst of devotion which 
took place in France in the seventeenth century. 
It was the period when St. Vincent of Paul 
miglit be seen familiarly treading the streets of 
Paris, and when M. Olier was one of its parish 
priests; numbers of noblemen and ladies in 
court and camp were leading lives of extraor- 
dinary perfection; while, up and down the ob- 
scure cloisters of the country, many a nun was 
living in a state of supernatural union with God. 
To and fro in the midst of this religious enthu- 



274 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

siasm went St. Cyran, gifted with extraordinary 
powers of obtaining* influence, with a well-merit- 
ed reputation for learning and powers of mind, 
and an undeserved one for sanctity. He made 
an attempt on St. Vincent of Paul, and wrote to 
Jansenius that he had great hopes of Cardinal 
de Burelle ; and if the saintly instinct of these 
two great men was too much for him, still he 
succeeded in attaching to himself many devoted 
and ardent souls. Even at that early period he 
had allured Singlin from St Vincent ; Lancelot 
was detached from the communitvof St. Nichol- 
as-du-Chardonnet ; and the French Oratory lost 
its greatest preai^her, Desmares. But the great- 
est success which St. Cyran obtained was 
the hold which he gained on the family of 
Arnauld. 

There was an ancient abbey of the Cistercian 
Order, not far from Paris, which had been re- 
stored to its original strictness under circumstan- 
ces the most unpromising. Marie Angelique 
Arnauld, when but a child, had received the ab- 
bacy as a gift from its royal patron, according to 
a custom condemned by the Council of Trent, yet 
too prevalent at the beginning of the seventeenth 
century. But the grace of God touched the 
heart of the young abbess, and with wonderful 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS, 275 

energy and strength of will she reformed the 
laxity which had taken place in the old rule 
of St. Benedict, and established religious observ- 
ance and regular cloister. The reform bid fair 
to spread far and wide ; the regal abbey of 
Manbuisson received the reform of Port Royal 
at the hands of Marie Angelique, and the world 
was astonished by the unparalleled modesty 
with wliich the instrument of the good work 
renounced the crosier of the rich abbacy when 
her work was done, and returned to the low- 
damp valley of Port Royal, where the convent- 
ual buildings were often hidden by the un- 
healthy exhalations from its undrained waters. 

In an evil hour she fell under St. Cyran's 
direction, and from that moment the whole 
enerufv of that indomitable will was bent on 
promoting the cause of heresy. It is impossi- 
ble not to mourn her fate. Instead of being, 
what she might have been, a great instrument 
in the hands ol God, she sunk into the tool of 
a miserable faction. 

Around the Abbey, and on the grounds under 
its jurisdiction, St Cyranhad conceived the idea 
of collecting a number of men, to be occupied 
in literary works and in the education of youth, 
as the nuns were to be employed in bringing up 



276 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

young ladies. It was owing to these men that 
the Abbey acquired a world-wide name at the ex- 
pense of the holiness of its inmates. Its solitude 
became peopled ; it was to that lowly valley that 
men repaired whose names are identified with 
the best days of French literature. They left 
the world to pray^ to be with God, and to turn 
Port Royal into a new Thebaid ; but neither fast- 
ing nor austerities could tame the fiery spirits 
that congregated there. Never was man served 
like St. Cyran; nay, it is not often that God is 
served so faithfully and well, except by His 
saints. Even after he was dead, his idea was 
carried on after him. It was his plan tlioroughly 
to get hold of the literature of his country, and 
to identify the triumphs of its language with the 
progress of his heresy. The energy, the clear- 
ness and distinctness, the limpid transparency 
which pleases even when it has no depth, which 
can say anything, and say it well, notwithstand- 
ing its poverty of words, the vivacity and power 
which has made the tongue of France the lan- 
guage of Europe and the interpreter of the 
thoughts of all nations — all this was to be turned 
into the vehicle of Jansenism. And he 
succeeded. 

Even at this distance of time, though not one 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS, 277 

stone is left apon another, our imagination can 
reproduce, without effort, the phin of the Abbey, 
the valley under its jurisdiction, its streams and 
fish-ponds ; and who, on looking down from the 
heights above on its peaceful conventual build- 
ings, its cloistered quadrangles, and the modest 
spire of its church, would suspect for a moment 
that he was standing on the crater of a volcano ? 
Yet tlie solitaries who dwelt in that valley were 
in league with tlie machinations of the Fronde. 
So contagious was this dishonest spirit in Port 
Koyal, that it seemed to infect all who came 
within the influence of the place. There are 
few things which we can less easily forgive Jan- 
senism than the noble minds which it spoiled and 
corrupted ; and the noblest mind which it over- 
threw was Pascal's. The discoverer of the 
cycloid was turned into the fanatic who saw prec- 
ipices open beneath his feet when he walked. 
He dreamed dreams, and believed them to be 
visions. He wrote an account of them, and wore 
the paper around his neck like an amulet, and 
the royal library at Paris possessed, and proba- 
bly possesses to this day, this melancholy wit- 
ness of the wreck which Jansenism had helped 
to cause in that wonderful intellect. Under the 
influence of the Port Royalists all that was ten- 



278 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

der, loving and beautiful in the Christian faith, 
perished in their fanatical attempt to bring back 
that which could never return. 

Such was Jansenism in its first stage, the most 
repulsive and the most dishonest of heresies. Its 
fatalist doctrines, its stern and arrogant spirit, 
its unmercifulness to sinning and perishing 
souls, — all is unchristian and unlovely about it 
The attempt to remain in the Church when they 
are not of hers, turned a number of men of great 
talents and great energy of character, into trai- 
tors to her. They simply attempted what was 
impracticable; they tried to be Catholic without 
being Koman ; they attempted to believe in the 
infallibility of an abstract Church of the past or 
the future, while they rebelled against the pres- 
ent ever-living Church of God. All withered 
under their touch, — hagiology, ecclesiastical his- 
tory, spiritual reading and devotion. 

As time w^ent on, all these evil characteristics 
of Jansenism came out with greater promin- 
ence. The unerring logic of history has now 
fully worked out the problem, whether it be 
possible to remain in communion with the Church 
without conforming to her spirit. 

Rev. John Bernard Dalgairns, 
Introduction to the Devotion to the Sacred Heart 



LETTER OF REV. DANIEL BARBER. 



It is a natural principle in all men to be dis- 
posed to religion, and in case they fail in that 
which is true, they will be disposed to em- 
brace that which is false. Among those who 
claim the right of choosing for themselves that 
faith which their fancy or judgment may ap- 
prove of, there will always be many who are 
very liable to change, especially among such as 
have recourse to the Holy Scriptures as the only 
rule of their choice ; and although such changes 
are frequent, and generally proceed from ap- 
parently pious motives, is it not natural for us to 
inquire in particular cases what these motives 
were I Such inquiries are often kind and friend- 
ly, and seem fully justified by an apostle who 
has taught us to give an answer to " every one 
who shall ask us concerning our faith. " 

Whenever I shall return again to you, my 
former brethren, it is quite probable that many 
among such as I have baptized and adminis- 
tered to in other holy things, as also those with 
whom I have wept and rejoiced, will feel, at 
least, some curiosity to inquire, among other 



280 CONQUESTS OF OUE HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

things, why I have made a change in my re- 
ligion ? And particularly why I became a 
Catholic ? So natural is it to ask, when we 
see a man with a cross upon his shoulders, why 
does he carry it ? 

Anticipating such inquiries, my answer shall 
be according to that simplicity and affection in 
which I ever taught and instructed you in form- 
er times, when it was the wish of my heart to 
lead you in the ways of piety to a spiritual com- 
posure of mind and to that truth of the soul 
which is everlasting. In this way I endeavored 
to lead you according to the measure of my 
knowledge and skill. Honest minds may think 
differently, yet truth and error can never be the 
same ; and whether our faith be right or wrong 
depends not at all on the opinion we may form, 
or the good liking we may have for it. The 
sun does not cease to shine because the blind 
man does not see it; nor is the providence of 
God checked because a sceptic may please to 
deny it. That religion whose design is the 
happiness of man, is from heaven. Its faith, its 
doctrines, must, therefore, be holy and divine. 
It must then be perfect, and unchangeable as 
He who once gave the law amidst the thun- 
ders and lightning of Mount Sinai. What it was, 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 281 

the same it is, and ever will be; not like man, 
liable to change and decay, but stamped with 
the hand of its divine author, it alone will stand 
amidst desolation of empires and the wreck of 
worlds. 

You again ask me why I am a Catholic ? I 
answer: for the same reasons which make me a 
Christian ; for, in former times. Catholic and 
Christian meant the same thing. ^^ My 
name is Christian, " said an ancient Father, '^ and 
Catholic is my surname ;" or, I will answer in 
the words of a celebrated author, M. De la 
Harpe, ''I am a Catholic because I have exam- 
ined ; do you the same and you will be one too." 
Rev. Daniel Barber, 
Catholic Worship and Piety Explained and 
Recommended in sundry Letters to a very near 
Friend, and Others. 



* Catholic iMemoirs of Vermont and New Hampshire, by Right 
Rev. Loui? de Goesbriand. 



THE PKINCIPAL HERESIES OF THE 
TWELFTH CENTURY. 



There is no error too absurd to be embraced 
by tlie human mind, when disdaining the 
guidance of the sacred traditions ; it follows its 
own light in the search after truth. It would 
be useless, and, perhaps, an impossible task^ 
to retrace all the aberrations of thought ; the 
diversities of logical error would be found, per- 
haps, equal to the infinite variety of moral vices ; 
and these, from their turn, viewed from a psycho- 
logical and physiological point of view, would, 
doubtless, find their degraded types in the mul- 
tiplicity of corporal maladies. This triple mani- 
festation of evil springs originally from the same 
source ; and each, according to its kind, issues 
in a fruit of death. It is a remarkable fact, that 
a period of immorality ordinarily brings on a 
period of error, and that again is followed by 
the scourge of corporal maladies. These three 
series of evils are far more closely connected 
than is generally thought, and they produde one 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 283 

another; morals regulate the mind, and the 
mind rules the body ; and public health actual- 
ly depends upon doctrines, as doctrines depend 
upon morality. It would, perhaps, be an inter- 
esting study, setting out from this point of view> 
to characterize each century by the nature 
of its predominant evil, and trace the successive 
influences which have ruled the world. But, 
without wishing to insist on this observation, and 
confining ourselves to the time of which we are 
treating, it is manifest that the twelfth century 
is distinguished by the aberration of human 
reason, and by the heterodox tendency of in- 
tellectual speculations. The predominance of 
barbarous matters in the preceding century 
had prepared the way for this tendency ; it was 
followed, a century later, by physical calamities 
of all kinds, and a period of frightful mortality.* 
The method of Aristotle was the great instru- 
ment by the aid of which the innovators under- 
took to justify their eccentric doctrines. The 
species of fanaticism to which the study of the 
Greek philosophers had given rise in the Chris- 
tian schools, had carried the rationalistic theolo- 



^ The numerous and strange maladies which broke out at the 
end of the 13th century are well known. It was especially under 
the race of Valois that the nations were decimated by them. 



284 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

gians into absurdities. Some, carried away by 
the seductions of Manicheism, supposed a primi- 
tive nature, co-existent with God, co-eternal 
with Him ; subject, in its development, like God 
Himself, to necessary and absolute laws. Others, 
reviving the reveries of the Indians and the 
Gymnosophists, viewed creation as the eternal 
object of the divine love, and thus considered all 
created beings consabstantial with God ; a 
gross pantheism, which confounded God^ man, 
and nature together."^ Others again — and this 
was the most general aberration of the spirit of 
the age — carried the taste of disputation and 
the spirit of curiosity, made more subtle bj^ dia- 
lectics, into Christian theology ; so that, in their 
discussion of dogmas, they mutilated them to 
scholastic categories and subjected them to the 
narrow conceptions of reason. Lastly, impetu- 
ous and austere innovators, under the pretext of 
purifying morals, undertook the task of reforming 
doctrines, and uprooting heavenly and earthly 
plants together from the field of the Church ; 
they composed a new Christianity, which broke 
into a thousand fragments, and sub-divided into 



'^ German pantheism, especially the school of Hegel, seems to be 
an offspring of these old errors. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 285 

as many sects. These various heresies which 
had been long hatching in darkness, displayed 
their symbols openly at the period when Arnold 
of Brescia flattered himself that he had struck 
down the head of the Church. Tlie first prop- 
aganda was organized at Languedoc ; Provence 
and several dioceses of Southern France were 
soon infected. These countries seemed more ac- 
cessible than others to the enterprise of the in- 
novators. These men at first confined their 
attacks to the clergy ; but from the clergy tliey 
passed to the ecclesiastical hierarchy ; from the 
hierarchy, to the authority of the Church; and 
this barrier once broken through, errors poured 
in floods into the schismatical schools. Each of 
these scliools gave itself out as the only true 
Church, under a name borrowed either from 
its head, or from the city where it had just 
sprung up. 

Thus arose, almost simultaneously, the diff*er- 
ent Manichean sects, which, favored by Roger, 
Count of Albi, became afterwards so formidable 
under their new name of Albigenses. They had 
been preceded by the Petrobrusians, disciples of 
Peter of Bruys. They again divided ; and from 
the midst of them issued forth the Henricians, 
more violent than their predecessors. Tan- 



286 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR, 

chelme and his partisans, known in the twelfth 
century under the name of the heretics of Cologne, 
mitigated the doctrines of the monk Henry, and 
propagated them in Flanders, Cologne, Utrecht, 
and Holland. The Apostolicals of Perigueux, 
the Cathari of Italy, the Patarins or Perfect of 
Germany, the ^^Passagiens,'' the "Bonshommes,'' 
the Arnoldists, the Publicans, and a host of 
others, signalized themselves by the singularity 
of their dogmas, and by their common revolt 
against the centre of Catholic authority. 

M. L'Abbe Patisbonjste, 
Life and Times of St. Bernard. 



THE LOVE OF GOD IN CREATION. 



The knowledge of God is not only the 
highest and most precious of all kinds of 
knowledge, but the standard by which the 
value of all other kinds of knowledge is to 
be testedr In the intellectual order it 
holds the place of charity in the moral. 
Though a man were to possess all other 
kinds of knowledge and be wanting in this 
cardinal science, it would avail him no- 
tliing!' Our Heavenly Father has gra- 
ciously provided for this passing need of His 
reasonable creatures, and has furnished them 
with abundant means of satisfying it. He 
has set before them two books, very dif- 
ferent in character, but consentient in their 
testimony and capable of mutual illustra- 
ation. One of these books is incomparably 
more complete and explicit than the other. 
It has an object, a method, and a dignity 
especially and unapproachably its own ; but 



1 See Wisd. ix. 6 and xiii. i. 



288 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

it indirectly throws light upon the evidence 
of its kindred witness. I need hardl}^ say 
that the two books of jne and the same 
Author to which I am referring are re- 
spectively the Book of Nature, as opened 
before us in the works of the material 
creation, and the book of Revelation as 
contained in the Holy Scriptures, and pre- 
sented to us at the hands of the Church. 
That these books must severally illustrate 
one another is evident from the fact of 
their being the works of the same Author 
the Father of Light, with w^hom is no 
change nor shadow of inconsistency. The 
works of the same author often contradict 
or vary from one another. They indi- 
cate different periods in their author's per- 
sonal history, or different stages in his 
mental career. But God is ever tlie same. 
His disclosures may and do var}^ in point 
of explicitnesS; but in their cliaracter they 
are uniform and coincident. They are the 
acts of a Will that never falters, and the 
expressions of a Mind that never fluctuates. 
There have been, and still are, vast mul- 
titudes of rational and responsible beings 
to whom one of these great records of 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 289 

Divine Truth is a sealed book ; but there 
has never existed a time when, or a place 
where, the other has not been spread out 
before the eyes of all. Its ubiquitous pres- 
ence has constituted the privilege and tlie 
opportunity of the benighted inquirer, and 
its studied neglect his sin and condemna- 
tion. The heathen of old, as St. Paul tells 
us, had this opportunity, and incurred the 
guilt and penalty of neglecting it. This 
is the reproach wliich the Apostle brings 
ao^ainst them. The invisible thing's of Him, 
from the creation of the world, are clear- 
ly seen, being understood by the things 
that are made: His eternal power, also, 
and divinity; so that they are inexcusable. 
Because that, when they had known God, 
they have not glorified Him as God nor 
given thanks ; but became vain in their 
thoughts, and their foolish hearts were 
darkened.^ 

The reproach of the Apostle has lost 
none of its force in the centuries which 
have intervened. The evidences of power 
and divinity which are displayed in the 



2 Rom. i. 20. 21. 



290 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

works of the Creator are still wasted on 
multitudes of His creatures, and that, too, 
not only in countries as yet unvisited by 
the fulness of Gospel lig*ht, but even in 
some of those which bask in its sunshine. 
Not infidelity alone, but even atheism is 
found to exist side by side with the pos- 
session of the Gospel and the teachings of 
the Church, notwithstanding that the prog- 
ress of physical science has more and 
more served to elicit the proofs of creative 
and provident love which abound in every 
part of the universe. The spectacle is one 
which might rouse our indignation, did it 
not rather tend to move our pity. Men 
are found to breathe this healthful air — so 
exquisitely compounded as to refresh where 
it might stifle, and to invigorate where it 
might destroy — without discerning in such 
a provision of mercy the beneficence of the 
Creator, and far from lifting up their 
hearts to Him in one aspiration of love 
and outpouring of gratitude. They can 
breathe in this ocean of light — so immense 
in its range, so marvellous in its disclosures, 
yet so gentle and soothing in eifects on 
the organ prepared to receive it — without 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 291 

once reflecting on the matchless adaptation 
of means to an end which appears in the 
structure of that organ, and the quahty of 
the element for which it is designed. They 
can behold the birds of the air, nourished 
and sustained without labor or forethought 
of their own, yet reflect not on the watch- 
ful Eye which overlooks, or the invisible 
Hand which ministers to them. They can 
gaze on the lilies of the field — so beauti- 
ful in their form and so glorious in their 
vesture — without discerning in them the re- 
flection of archetypal beauty or the tokens 
of a love which provides not only for the 
welfare, but even for the solace and re- 
creation of ungrateful man. 

The mercies of the Creator are over all 
His works, and are renewed every morning. 
His loving kindness embraces the least and 
the lowest of His creatures, and is as per- 
fect in its provision for the needs of each 
as if there were no other demand upon its 
exercise, no other object of its care. It is 
witnessed in the precise adaptation of an- 
imals to the element in which they are 
found; in their provident and sagacious in- 
stincts ; in the compensations by which the 



292 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

irregularities of their exceptional structures 
are rectified, and in ways equally significant 
of love to whose expansiveness no limit 
can be assigned, and for whose scrutiny 
no object is too minute. 

Very Rev. Frederick Canon Oakeley, 
The Voice of Creation as a Witness to the mind 
of its Divine Author, 



LETTER OF THE DUTCHESS 

OF YORK ON HER CONVERSION TO 

THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 



I have been, ever from my infancy, bred up 
in the English Protestant religion, and have 
had very able persons to instruct me in the 
grounds thereof, and I doubt not but I am ex- 
posed to the censure of an infinite number of 
persons, who are astonished at my quitting it 
to embrace the relio:ion of the Roman Catholics 
(for which I have ever professed a great aver- 
sion) ; and therefore I have thouglit fit to give 
some satisfaction to my friends, by declaring 
unto them the reasons upon which I have been 
moved to do it, without engaging myself in 
long and unprofitable disputes touching the 
matter. 

I protest therefore, before God, that, since 
my coming into England, no person, either 
man or woman, hath at any time persuaded me 
to alter my religion, or hath used any dis- 
courses to me upon that subject. It hath been 



294 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

only a particular favor from God, who hath 
been graciously pleased to hear the prayers I 
daily made unto him^ both in France and Flan- 
ders whilst I was there, that he would vouch- 
safe to bring me into the true Church before I 
died, in case that I was not in the right ; and 
it was the devotion I observed in the Catholics 
there, which induced me to make that prayer, 
although my own devotion during all that time 
was very slender. I did, notwithstanding, all the 
time I was in those countries, believe I was in 
the true religion ; neither had I the least scru- 
ple of it until November last, at which time, 
readmg Dr. Heylin's History of the Reforma- 
tion, which had been highly recommended to 
me, I was so far from finding the satisfaction I 
expected, that I found nothing but sacrileges ; 
and looking over the reasons, therein set down, 
which caused the separation of the Church of 
England from that of Rome, I read three there, 
which to me were great impieties. The first 
was, that Henry VIII. had cast off the Pope's 
authority, because he would not permit him to 
quit his wife and marry another. 

The second, that during the minority of P]d- 
ward VL, his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, wlio 
then governed all, and was the principal in that 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 295 

alteration, did greatly enrich himself with the 
goods of the Church, which he engrossed. 

And the third consisted in this, that Queen 
Elizabeth, not being rightful heir to the crown, 
could not keep it, but by renouncing a Church 
which would never have allowed of such injus- 
tice. I could not be persuaded that the Holy 
Ghost would ever have made use of such mo- 
tives as these were, to change religion, and was 
astonished that the bishops, if they had no 
other intention than to establish the doctrine of 
the primitive Church, had not attempted it be- 
fore the schism of Henry VIH., which was 
grounded upon such unjustifiable pretences. 

Being troubled with these scruples, I began 
to make some reflections upon the points of 
doctrine wherein we differed from the Catholics, 
and to that purpose had recourse to the Holy 
Scripture, and though I pretended not to be 
able perfectly to understand it, I found, not- 
withstanding, several points which seemed to 
me very plain ; and I cannot but wonder that I 
staid so long without taking notice of them. 
Amongst these were, the Real Presence of our 
Saviour in the sacraments, the infallibility of 
the Church, confession, and prayers for the 
dead. 1 treated of these particulars severally, 



296 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

with two of the most learned bishops of En- 
gland; and advising upon tliese subjects, they 
told me, that it was to be wished that tlie Church 
of Eng'land had retained several thin g-s it altered : 
as, for example, confession, which without 
doubt is of divine institution. They told me 
also, that prayers for the dead had been in use 
in the primitive Church, during the first centu- 
ries : and that they themselves did daily observe 
those things, though they desired not publicly 
to own those doctrines. And having pressed 
one of them something earnestly touching these 
things, he frankly told me, that if he had been 
bred up in the Catholic religion, he should not 
have left it ; but now being a member of that 
Church which believed all the articles necessary 
to salvation, he thought he shoidd do ill to quit 
it, because he was beholden to that church for 
his baptism, and he should thereby give occasion 
of great scandal to others. 

All these discourses were a means to increase 
the desire I had to embrace the Roman Cath- 
olic religion, and added much to the inward 
trouble of my mind ; but the fear I had to be 
hasty in a matter of that importance, made me 
act warily, with all precaution necessary in 
such a case. I prayed incessantly to God, that 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 297 

he would be pleased to inform me in the truth 
of these points whereof I doubted. Upon 
Christmas-day, going to receive at the King's 
Cliapel, I found myself in greater trouble than 
ever I had been in ; neither was it possible for 
me to be at quiet, until I had discovered myself 
to a certain Catholic, who presently brought me 
a priest. He was the first of them with whom 
I ever conversed, and the more I conversed 
with him, the more I found myself confirmed 
in the resolution I had taken. It was, I thought, 
impossible to doubt of these words: '^ This is 
my body," and I am verily persuaded that our 
Saviour, who is truth itself, and hath promised 
to continue with his Church to the world's end, 
would never suffer these holy mysteries to the 
laity, only under one kind, if it was inconsistent 
with his institution of that sacrament. 

I am not able to dispute touching these things 
with any body, and if I were, I would not go 
about to do it, but I content myself to write 
this to justify the change I have made of my 
religion ; and I call God to witness, I had not 
done it, had I believed I could have been saved 
in that Church whereof till then I was a mem- 
ber. I protest seriously, I have not been in- 
duced to this by any worldl)^ interests or mo- 



298 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH, 

tives, neither can the truth of this my protesta- 
tion be rationally doubted by any person, since 
it was evident that thereby I lost all of my 
friends, and very much prejudiced my reputa- 
tion ; but having seriously considered with my- 
self whether I ought to renounce my portion 
in the other world to enjoy the advantages of 
my present being here, I assure you, I found it 
no difficulty at all to resolve the contrary, for 
which I render thanks to God, who is the author 
of all goodness. 

My prayer to him is, that the poor Catholics 
of this kingdom ma}^ not be persecuted upon 
my account, and I beseech God to grant me 
patience in my afflictions, and that what tribula- 
tions soever his goodness has appointed for me, 
I may go through with them, as that I may 
hereafter enjoy a happiness for all eternity. 
GiveM at St James\ the 20th of August^ 1670. 



THE MEMORIALS OF CATH- 
OLICITY IN ENGLAND. 



An Englishman needs not controversial writ- 
ings to lead him to the faith of his fathers ; it 
is written on the wall, on the window, on the 
pavement, by the highway. Let him but look 
on the tombs of those who occupy the most 
honorable position in the history of his coun- 
try, — the devout, the noble, the valiant, and 
the wise, — and he will behold them with 
clasped hands invoking the saints of Holy 
Church, whilst the legend round the slab begs 
the prayers of the passers-by for their souls' 
repose. At Canterbury he beholds the pallium, 
emblem of jurisdiction conferred by St. Gregory 
on the blessed Austin, first primate of this 
land ; at York, the keys of Peter, with triple 
crowns, are carved on buttress, parapet, and 
wall. Scarcely one village church or crum- 
bling ruin that does not bear some badge of 
ancient faith and glory. Now the crosses on 
the walls tell of anointings with holy chrism 
and solemn dedication, — the sculptured font, 



300 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

of sacraments seven, and regeneration in the 
laver of grace : the legend on the bell inspires 
veneration for these consecrated heralds of the 
Church ; the chalice and Host over priestly 
tomb teaches of altar and sacrifice ; the iron- 
clasped ambry, sculptured in the wall, bears re- 
cord of holy Eucharist reserved for ghostly 
food, — the stoups in porch, and Galilee of 
hallowed water, and purification before prayer ; 
while window, niche, spandril^ and tower set 
forth, by pious effigies, that glorious company 
of angels, prophets, apostles, martyrs, and con- 
fessors, who, glorified in heaven, watch over 
and intercede for the faithful upon earth. 

The Cross — that emblem of a Christian's 
hopes — still surmounts spire and gable , in flam- 
ing red it waves from the masts of our navy, 
over the towers of the sovereign's palace, and is 
blazoned on London's shield. 

The order of St. Greorge, our patron saint, 
founded by King Edward of famous memory, 
is yet the highest honor that can be conferred 
by the sovereigns on the subject ; and his 
chapel is glorious and his feast is kept solemn- 
ly. Our cities, towns, and localities, the rocky 
islands which surround our shores, are yet 
designated by the names of those saints of old 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 301 

through whose lives, martyrdom, or benefac- 
tions, they have become famous. 

The various seasons of the year are distin- 
guished by the masses of these holy tides. 
Scarcely is there one noble house of family 
whose honorable bearings are not identical with 
those blazoned on ancient church or window, 
or chantry tomb, which are so many witnesses 
of the pious deeds and faith of their noble an- 
cestry. Nay, more, our sovereign is solemnly 
crowned before the shrine of the saintly Ed- 
ward, and exhorted to follow in the footsteps 
of that pious king, and anointed with oil poured 
from the same spoon that was held by Canter- 
bury's prelates eight centuries ago. 

In short, Catholicism is so interwoven with 
everything sacred, honorable, or glorious in 
England, that three centuries of puritanism, in- 
difference, and infidelity have not been able 
effectually to separate it. It clings to this land, 
and develops itself from time, to time, as the bet- 
ter feelings of a naturally honorable man who 
had been betrayed into sin. What ! an English- 
man and a Protestant ! Oh, worse than par- 
ricide, to sever these holy ties that bind them 
to the past, to deprive himself of that sweet 
communion of soul with those holy men, now 



302 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH: OR 

blessed spirits with God, who brought tliis 
island from pagan obscurity to the brightness 
of Christian light, — who covered its once 
dreary face with the noblest monuments of 
piety and skill, — who gave those lands which 
yet educate our youth, support the learned, 
and from whom we received all we have yet 
left that is glorious, even to our political gov- 
ernment and privileges. 

A. Welby Pugin, 
An Apology for the Revival of Christian Archi- 
tecture in England. 



THE REVEREND FATHER, 

PRINCE DEMETRIUS AUGUSTINE 

GALLITZIN. 



As early as 1795 there was one Father 
Smith who was missionary for an enormous 
district in Western Maryland, Virginia, and 
Pennsylvania. There, for forty-one years, he 
toiled in humble faithfulness ; from thence his 
soul ascended to the judgment which his life 
had merited. It will not be uninteresting to 
consider some points in the life of this servant 
of Mary, this glorious, although unrenowned, 
pioneer of her honor in this country. 

This Father Smith, missionary of Hagers- 
town and Cumberland in Maryland, of Mar- 
tinsburg and Winchester in Virginia, of Cham- 
bersburg and the Alleghany mountain-sweep 
in Pennsylvania, and thence southward ; of far 
more, in a word, than what now constitutes 
the entire diocese of Pittsburg ; this rival of 
Gomez in the south, and of Father Chaumonot 
in the north ; this founder of Our Lady of 
Loretto in the centre of the continent, was not 



304 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

always known as Father Smitli. In his own 
country, the vast Muscovite empke, then ruled 
by the Czar Alexander L, he was known as the 
Prince Augustine de Gallitzin. His Father, 
Prince Demetrius Gallitzin, was ambassador 
of Catherine the Great to Holland, at the time 
of the missionary's birth. His mother, the 
Princess Amelia, was daughter of that famous 
Field-marshal Count von Schmettau, who illus- 
trated the military annals of Frederick the 
Great. 

The young Gallitzin was decorated in his 
very cradle with military titles, which destined 
him from hisbirth to the highest posts in the Rus- 
sian army. High in the favor of the Empress 
Catherine, his father, a haughty and ambitious 
nobleman, dreaming only of the advancement 
of his son in the road of preferment and world- 
ly honor, was resolved to give him an educa- 
tion worthy of his exalted birth and his brilliant 
prospects. Religion formed no part of the plan 
of the father, who was a proficient in the school 
of Gallic infidelity, and the friend of Diderot. 
It was carefully excluded. Special care was 
taken not to suffer any minister of religion to 
approach the study-room of the young prince. 
He was surrounded by infidel teachers. His 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 305 

mother, a Catholic by birth and early education, 
was seduced into seeming Voltairianism by the 
court fashion of her native country, and lier 
marriage with Prince Demetrius confirmed her 
habits of apparent infidelity ; we say apparent, 
for she retained, even in the salons of Paris 
and in the society of Madame -^u Chatelet, a 
fervent devotion to Saint Augustine, that grand 
doctor of the Church who had been a great 
worldlino- and heretic. After the marriao^-e of 
the elder Gallitzin with the Princess Amelia, he 
brouglit her to Paris and introduced her to his 
literary infidel friends, especially to Diderot, in 
whose company he delighted. This philoso- 
pher endeavored to win the princess over to 
his atheistical system ; but though she was 
more than indifferent on the subject of religion, 
her naturally strong mind discovered the hol- 
lowness of his reasoning. It was remarked that 
she would frequently puzzle the philosopher by 
the little interrogative — why? and as he could 
not satisfy her objections, she was determined 
to examine thoroughly the grounds of revela- 
tion. Though having no religion herself, she 
was determined to instruct her children in one. 
The beauty of revealed truth, notwithstanding 
the impediment of indifference and unbelief, 



306 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

would sometimes strike her— her mind boing' 
of that mould which, according to Tertullian, 
is naturally Christian. 

A terrible illness called her back to God ; 
she saw the truth and beauty of the Catliolio 
faith, and she returned to the protection of 
Mary on the Feast of St. Augustine, in the 
week following the Octave of Our Lady's As- 
sumption. 

It is to the happy influence and bright ex- 
ample of his mother, to whom, under God, we 
must mainly ascribe the conversion of the 
young Demetrius. As the illustrious Bishop 
of Milan, St. Ambrose, consoled the mother of 
Augustine, when he used to say *' that it was 
impossible for a son to be lost for whom so many 
tears were shed ; '' so we may believe that the 
pious Fiirstenberg, her son's tutor, cheered, in 
a similar manner, this good lady, in her intense 
solicitude for a son whom she so tenderly 
loved. 

At the age of seventeen the young prince 
was received into the Church. He was, in the 
year 1792, appointed aid-de-camp to the Aus- 
trian General Von Lilien, who commanded an 
army in Brabant at the opening of the first 
campaign against the French Jacobins. The 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 307 

sudden death of the Emperor Leopold, and the 
murder of the king of Sweden by Ankerstrom, 
both suspected to be the work of French Jac- 
obins, who had declared war against all kings 
and religions, caused the governments of Austria 
and Prussia to issue a very strict order, dis- 
qualifying all foreigners from military offices. 
In consequence of this order the young Prince 
de Gallitzin was excluded. Russia not taking 
any part in the war against France, there was 
no occasion offered to him for pursuing the 
profession of arms, for which be had been des- 
tined by his military education. It was there- 
fore determined by his parents that he should 
travel abroad and make the grand tour. He 
was allowed two years to travel ; and lest, in 
the mean time, his acquirements, the fruits of a 
very finished education, might suffer, he was 
placed under the guidance of the Rev. Mr. 
Brosius, a young missionary then about to em- 
bark for America, with whom his studies were 
to be still continued. In the company of this 
excellent clergyman he reached the United 
States in 1792. 

The next we need see of him is as a seminarian 
with the Sulpicians in Baltimore, November 
5, 1772. In this moment of his irrevocable 



308 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

sacrifice of himself to God, the feelings of his 
inmost soul may be gathered from a letter 
which he wrote at this time to a clergyman of 
Munster, in Germany. In it he begs him to 
prepare his mother for tlie step he had finally 
taken, and informs him that he had sacrificed 
himself, with all that he possessed, to the service 
of God and the salvation of his neighbor in 
America, where the harvest was so great and the 
laborers so few, and where the missionary had 
to ride frequently forty and fifty miles a day, 
undergoing difficulties and dangers of every 
description. He adds, that he doubted not his 
call, as he was willing to subject himself to such 
arduous labor. 

Father Etienne Badin was the first priest or- 
dained in the United States ; Prince Gallitzin 
was the second, and he, as early as 1799, was 
settled for life in the then bleak and savage 
region of the Alleghanies. From his post to 
Lake Erie, from the Susquehanna to the Po- 
tomac, there was no priest, no church, no re- 
ligious station of any kind. Think, then, of the 
inevitable labors and privations of this mis- 
sionary. 

During long missionary excursions, frequent- 
ly his bed was the bare floor, his pillow the 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 309 

saddle, and the coarsest and most forbidding 
fare constituted his repast. Add to this, that 
he was always in feeble health, always infirm 
and delicate in the extreme, and it was ever a 
matter of wonder to others how the little he ate 
could support nature and hold together so frag- 
ile a frame as his. A veritable imitator of St. 
Paul ^4ie was, in labor and painfulness, in 
watching often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting 
often, in cold and nakedness." ^ 

Eev. Xavier Donald Macleod. 
History of the Devotion of the Blessed Virgin in 
North America, 

* 3 Cor. xi. 



PHILOSOPHES AND AUTOCRATS. 



The fall of the Society of Jesus was the cul- 
minating triumph of Renaissance Csesarism 
over the spiritual order — the sweeping away 
of the last vestiges of liberty in Europe. The 
sixteen years which intervene between the pro- 
mulgation of the Brief Dominus et Bedemptor 
Noster and the outbreak of the French Revolu- 
tion were, if I may so speak, the carnival of 
monarchial absolutism. Curiously enough the 
very forces which were blindly working to 
bring about its overthrow, were then most in- 
timately leagued with it. In the attack upon the 
Society of Jesus the philosophes had been the 
devoted confederates of the kings. In the con- 
tinued warfare of governments against the 
Church, in the attacks upon immemorial local 
liberties and ancient autonomies, in the deter- 
mination to carry out by brute force a complete 
system of monarchial centralization — and this, 
taking Europe as a whole, is in substance the 
history of those fifteen years — the most effective 
weapons of the autocratic Powers were forged 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 311 

by the men who in those days, — strange irony 
of popular ignorance ! — are so widely honored 
as the apostles of freedom. Of the social, moral, 
and the religious action of the philosophes I 
shall have to speak hereafter. Here I merely 
note that their direct political action was 
throughout Europe in support of absolutism. 
Fine phrases about liberty, patriotism, justice, 
the rights of man, were ever upon their lips : but 
there was no love of man, of country, no loyal- 
ty to virtue or duty in their hearts. Their ruling 
motive was ever the lust of material gratifica- 
tion and sensual enjoyment. There was hard- 
ly one of their leaders who would not sell his 
pen, for a chamberlain's key or a ])ension. to 
any tyrant, however steeped in nameless vice 
or stained by sanguinary ambition. In France, 
indeed, they posed as the enemies of royalty. 
Louis XV. disliked and despised them. Louis 
XVI. was too honest, or too stupid, to win their 
venal suffrages. Hence the French Monarchy 
was the standing object of their vituperation — ' 
even when the monarch w^as doing his feeble best 
to use his autocratic power for the correction 
of its worst abuses. Vain effort, indeed, and 
pre-doomed to failure, for who could have been 
sufficient for it? Certainly, insufficiency is 



312 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

written upon the career of Louis XVI. from 
first to last. He was not the Hercules to 
cleanse so foul an Augean stable as France had 
become. The very evils which his benevolence 
would have remedied were inherent parts of the 
system. The structure of regal absolutism 
was all of a piece. To attempt to reform it 
was but to accelerate the downfall of the edifice. 
Still, if any monarch ever deserved the help of 
all good men in his endeavors, and the pity of 
all generous hearts in his failures, it was Louis 
XVL He received neither help nor pity from 
ihe philosophes. 

In truth, the sympathies of the philosophes 
were engrossed by other European countries 
where the rulers were their own pupils, and 
where their political theories had free course 
and were glorified. 

C^est du Nord aujourdliui que nous vient la lu- 
miere, sang Voltaire ; the North with its Gusta- 
vus III. of Sweden, and Christian VII. of Den- 
mark, under whose usurpations every vestige of 
liberty disappeared from the Scandinavian pen- 
insula ; its Catherine 11. of Russia, fit nursing- 
mother of the Church of Antichrist, who 
consolidated the edifice of despotism in that 
unhappy country. Philosophe principles, how- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 313 

ever, were hardly, if at all, less potential in 
the governments of the south of Europe than 
in those of the north. D'Aranda, who contin- 
ued to be tlie first Minister of tlie Spanish Crown 
until the death of Charles III. in 1788, was a 
professed disciple of Voltaire. The sanguinary 
Pombal caused his works to be translated into 
Portuoi'uese. The aim of these two statesmen 
was to bring the institutions of the countries 
they governed into accordance with the fash- 
ionable doctrines, and they proceeded in their 
task with the arbitrariness of an Oriental 
despot, and with a cynical indifference to the 
sentiments, the institutions, the traditions of the 
people, which few Oriental despots would dare 
to exhibit. This was especially the case in 
Spain. The ruling feelings of the noble 
Spanish nation were devotion to the Catholic 
religion, love of their ancient customary liber- 
ties, and loyajty to their prince. 

The political condition of Italy on the eve of 
the French Revolution did not materially differ 
from that of Spain. The principles of the new 
French philosophy were professed by well-nigh 
all her rulers, and a despotism, called ^'enlight- 
ened," generally prevailed. Tuscany was re- 
garded as her model state, and Leopold II. was 



314 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

celebrated throughout the world for his ^^ re- 
forms." But his administration was really- 
only a copy of the doctrinaire absolutism of his 
brother Joseph, under easier conditions and 
with larger success. Joseph himself is perhaps 
the most striking manifestation of the political 
tendencies of the age. Succeeding in 1780 to 
the sole government of the confederation of 
States united under the hereditary sway of the 
House of Hapsburg, his supreme ambition was 
to give tlie world example of a philosophe 
Kaiser. '' The Emperor is quite ours," wrote 
Voltaire to d'Alembert, and Joseph certainly 
did his best to justify the boast. A contempor- 
ary observer describes him as ^^ a philosophe in 
his opinions and a despot in his conduct." 
Ranke pronounces his '^ruling idea" to have 
been ^' to unite all the powers of the'monarchy, 
without check or limitation, in his own hand." ^ 
Hence his attack upon local liberties and his 
policy of doctrinaire centralization throughout 
all his States, as well as '^ the incessant and 
destructive war which he waged against all 
institutions calculated to uphold the external 
unity of the Church." The systems of Govern- 
ment which excited his admiration and his envy 
were those of his two accomplices in the spolia- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 315 

tion of Poland — a crime wliich was consummat- 
ed, it will be remembered, in the year preced- 
ing the formal suppression of the Society of 
Jesus, and which alone is sufficient to show 
how completely the ideas of morality and jus- 
tice in the States, of public law and interna- 
tional right, had been effaced from the Euro- 
pean mind. 

William Samuel Lilly. 

Chapters in European History. 

* Ranke's History of the Popes, Vol. III., p. 147. 



ANGLICAN ORDERS. 



Dean Blunt desired to recall the assembly 
from these collateral topics to the question of 
Anglican Orders, upon which, he presumed to 
tliink, there was still a good deal to be said. If 
they had any validity, in the sense of that term 
employed by the High-Church party, it could 
only be by their derivation from Rome. Now 
here, as the learned Professor had justly intim- 
ated, they had to deal with two distinct lines of 
thought, one purely historical, the other belong- 
ing to the sphere of morals and theology. As 
to the first, which was the least important, he 
thought that no adequate proof had ever been 
given, or could be given, of the integrity of their 
succession. The evidence which centuries had 
failed to complete would never be completed at 
alL It was surely a fatal note against their 
High-Church friends that they had always been 
occupied in vindicating their Orders ! The atti- 
tude of the rest of Christendom towards them 
sufficiently exposed their want of success. 
A valued friend of his own, and a great or- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 317 

nament of the Puseyite party, had assured him, 
with a sorrowful gravity which he was incapa- 
ble of treating with ridicule, that, ^'for years 
he had been in the habit of askinof God to for- 
give him, every time he stood before the altar, 
if he were not really a Catholic priest." He 
had reason to believe that, at least among the 
more earnest and conscientious members of that 
party, this was a common case. 

But if the purely historical aspect of the ques- 
tion was, to put it at the lowest, a maze of 
doubt and perad venture, the moral difficulties 
were still more formidable, and darkened the 
whole ground with their portentous shadows. 
He would ask Archdeacon Chasuble, if he 
were not absorbed in conversation with his 
neighbor, to favor him with his attention^ while 
he endeavored to examine one only of these diffi- 
culties, of which the number was legion. Had 
the Archdeacon, and the clergy who shared his 
opinions, while consoling themselves with the 
belief that they derived their orders from Rome, 
ever seriously considered how such a claim 
could be reconciled with the language of the 
Reformers, including the principal founders and 
doctors of their own Church? The latter 
thought, and said, with an energy of expression 



318 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ^ OR 

which made all doubt about their meaning- nn- 
possible, that for nearly a thousand years the 
whole Roman priesthood lay wallowing in idol- 
atry and corruption. They proclaimed, as the 
all-sufficient defence of their own separation, 
that it was necessary to the salvation of every 
Christian soul to flee from that apostate Church, 
and to form a new rehgion, with Thirty -Nine new 
Articles of Christian belief; new forms of Chris- 
tian worship, and new and frightful penalties 
for non-conformity. For more than two hundred 
yearSjthe English bishops, whom they were now 
bid to regard as Catholics, gave their hearty as- 
sent to laws which made it death to be reconciled 
to the Church of Rome, death to say or hear 
Mass, death to be, or to harbor, a priest ; and, as 
if this were not a sufficient proof of their hatred 
to Rome, life-long imprisonment and confisca- 
tion of goods was the penalty either for sending 
a child to a Catholic country for education, or 
having him brought up a Catholic at home. 

But this was not all. During the whole pe- 
riod, land from the first hour of her existence, all 
the pulpits of the National Church liad re- 
sounded with imprecations against the Roman 
sorceress, and successive generations of English- 
men were carefully nurtured hy the hishops and 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 319 

clergy in that passionate abhorrence of the very 
name of Catholic which distinguish them to this 
day. Their very hterature had been formed 
in the same spirit, which breathed in every 
page, not only in episcopal charges and paro- 
chial sermons, but even of biographies and 
works of fiction, the same unflagging hatred of 
the religion which England had abolished. 

And now, in spite of all these well-known 
facts, they were seriously told, that during all 
this time they had been Catholics without 
knowing it ; their bishops heirs of St. Augus- 
tine, St. Anselm, and St. Thomas of Canter- 
bury ; and their ministers sacrificing priests, 
full of reverence for the mysteries of the altar, 
and the august sacrament of penance ! He 
wished to speak calmly, but he would venture 
to ask : Was ever God so mocked ? (Sensation.) 

He was persuaded that no one in that as- 
sembly would venture to deny, that all the En- 
glish reformers, the very men who founded their 
Church and gave them their formularies, had 
branded the Catholic Church with more prodi- 
gious curses than the Saviour of men had ever 
predicted for her blessings and triumphs. And 
yet they were now to be told that all this was 
a mistake, — a mere display of harmless rhe- 



320 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

toric ; and that, as a matter of fact, the English 
clergy were identical, in office and in gifts, with 
their Roman brethren ! He could understand 
that any one who objected to the language of 
the Reformers, and had learned to abhor their 
doctrines, should humbly sue for pardon and 
reconciliation with the Holy See ; but that a 
community which had such an origin, and such 
a history, as their own, should pretend to be 
anxious about its unbroken connection with 
Rome, and claim to be in all essentials one with 
her, and to have common orders and common 
sacraments, and to form part of the great Chris- 
tian commonwealth, precisely because it could 
boast filial generation from her ; there w^as in 
this notion such an audacious denial of truth 
and common sense, — considering what the 
Church of England had ever been, and still 
was, — that it was difficult to treat it seriously. 
That an Anglican minister, a disciple of the 
Articles and the Homilies, a successor of Cran- 
mer and Jewel, of Abbot and Whitgift, —hold- 
ing perhaps a benefice once held by a Catholic 
priest, and ministering at a table which had 
been substituted for a Catholic altar, — should 
venture to say all this ; besides being the most 
intolerable insult to his own Church, was as if 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 321 

a man should contend proudly for a pedigree 
derived through countless generations of felons. 
What ! call the whole Catholic priesthood " the 
spawn of Antichrist/' as your own fathers did, 
and then attempt to prove that your Orders are 
manifestly divine, because you trace them to 
that source ; revile the whole Catholic Church 
as ^' the harlot of Babylon," as twenty genera- 
tions of your own bishops and clergy did, and 
then claim her as your Mother ! Surely, this was 
either the last and wildest eccentricity of the 
human mind, or else the most impudent trifling 
with serious things of which any age or country 
could furnish an example. 

Arthur F. Marshall. 
TJie Comedy of Convocation in the English 
Church. 



EDWARD THE CONFESSOR 



Edward has been described by historians as 
a good king, though not a great one ; yet, if 
wisdom and virtue be deserving the attribute 
of greatness (and who shall say they are not?), 
certainly the King Confessor of England has 
claim to this title of ^' Great" For more than 
twenty years he swayed the sceptre of England 
in peace ; he repressed the haughtiness of the 
Dane, he tamed the turbulence of the Saxon 
noble ; he raised the people from their deep 
subjection, and enforced so just an administra- 
tion of the laws, that for years after his death 
the nation, when wronged and insulted by their 
Norman kings, were in the habit of demand- 
ing the laws and government of '^ the good 
king Edward.'' He was mild without weak- 
ness, just without cruelty, sj^enerous without 
extravagance. His charity was unbounded, and 
public buildings were his great delight ; but his 
people were not taxed by his magnificence, 
for his private income sufficed alike for his 
own expenses, for his hidden charities, and 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 323 

public foundations. The only war which he 
ever willingly undertook was in a just cause, 
and w^as crowned by conquest. He gave a 
code of laws to his people, which, as part of the 
common law of England, are still in force, save 
where altered by later statutes ; he remitted 
the '* Danegelt," an oppressive tax, which had 
latterly been paid into the king's exchequer, 
and had become a part of his private resources ; 
and when his nobles presented him with a gift 
of money, he refused to rob the people, and 
commanded it to be returned to the poor, from 
whose hard pittance it had been unjustly wrung. 
If acts like these give Edward no claim to the 
title of '^ Great," woe to the king who seeks any 
other means to obtain it. Riches, and glory, 
and honor mav all be his ; but his name will 
not live in the hearts of his people ; he will go 
down to his grave and be forgotten, or remem- 
bered but as an object of just execration; — 
while the deeds of the good king Edward, like 
those of all just men, shall ^^ smell sweet, and 
blossom in the dust." Amid all the contradic- 
tions of liistory, and the malevolence of party, 
the Catholic feeling with which the Protestants 
have honored the memory of king Edward ap- 
pears strangely inconsistent. The Protestant 



324 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

sovereign of England, on the day of his coro- 
nation, receives a crown which, if not that of 
king Edward, is made at least in imitation of 
it. The dalmatic and maniple were once a 
part of his royal robes of state ; and no relics 
of the Catholic Church have been kept with 
more reverence than these have been preserved 
by the Protestants into whose hands they have 
fallen. 

The custom of touching for the king's evil, 
which had its origin in the sanctity of the Saint, 
was afterwards continued by a long line of 
Protestant kings ; though Elizabeth, trusting to 
the virtue of the royal touch alone, omitted the 
sign of the cross, which might possibly have 
been regarded by the humble Edward as the 
most essential part of the ceremony, and as the 
true cause of cures recorded by all the histo- 
rians of the days in wliich he lived. 

Edward is the Saint of the Catholic line of 
English kings, as Charles tlie First has ever 
been that of their Protestant successors: it 
might not, then, prove uninteresting to compare 
their respective claims to our admiration. They 
have both been described by historians as good 
men, but as weak kings, 3^et the dissimilarity 
of their reigning was such, that we may be 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 325 

permitted to doubt if this similarity of temper- 
ament existed between them. 

Both reigned in troublesome times ; but 
Edward, almost without bloodshed, compelled 
the Danes to submit to his power; w^hile 
Charles sank beneath the resentment of his 
people. Edward made laws for the just gov- 
ernment of the nation — Charles broke those 
which were already made. Edward pardoned 
those who had done him evil — Charles signed 
the death-warrant of the most faithful of his 
friends. Edward was a Catholic, and at no 
one instant were his actions at variance with his 
professions of faith — Charles was a Protestant, 
but more than once he was the betrayer of his 
religion, as when lie w^as about to marry the 
Infanta of Spain ; and in a more especial man- 
ner, when he consented to the establishment of 
the Covenant for tlie space of five years. Both 
are considered Saints in their respective 
Churches, but all the energies of the one were 
directed to uphold the glory of God — of the 
other, to exalt the prerogatives of the crown. 
Edward lived a Saint of his own free will — 
Charles died a martyr by the wall of his sub- 
jects. And this thankless friend, this perjured 
king, this martyr for Church and State, whom 



326 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

the Protestant Church holds up to the admira- 
tion of her children, — this faithless defender of 
the faith, could consent to the virtual destruc- 
tion of the religion in which he believed, and 
which he had sworn to defend, in the faint hope 
of preserving the life that, on the scaffold, he 
affected to despise. Charles has been exalted 
to the rank of martyr and saint by the unani- 
mous opinion of the Protestant nation, — Ed- 
ward has been declared a Saint by the Catholic 
Church, which only condescends to acknowl- 
edge those as martyrs who have poured forth 
their blood like water, and who have esteemed 
their lives as nothing in comparison with the pre- 
servation of the faith for which they have 
gladly died. 

We have one word more to sa}" to our readers 
before we conclude this imperfect sketch of the 
holy Edward's life. Westminster Abbey, as it 
at present exists, was begun by Henry III. ; 
but the old church, which stood there in the 
time of Edward, was repaired and magnificently 
endowed by him ; lie may, then, be in a great 
measure regarded as its founder. Among the 
idle crowds who wander among its tombs, some 
few may perhaps pause for a moment, amid 
more serious thoughts, in the chapel where the 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 327 

bones of the saint are laid.— They may run men- 
tally over the long record of his life, untarnished 
by a single crime, and rich in every virtue that 
can add lustre to the nature of man. They may 
stand beside his tomb, occupied by the contem- 
plation of his good deeds, as we loiter near a 
bed of violets inhaling unconsciously the fra- 
grance they send up from the dust where they 
bloom. In that hour of secret communinof 
with tliemselves and with the dead, should their 
souls become oppressed by a sense of awful 
veneration for him, to the holiness of whose life 
that mighty edifice in the lapse of ages has be- 
come at once a testimony and a commemora- 
tion, we would entreat them to reserve some 
portion of their grateful admiration for the 
Catholic magnificence of those olden times, 
when kings were content to dwell in meaner 
houses, while they raised temples to the majesty 
of God, which, defying alike the hand of time and 
the assaults of fanaticism, have come down to us, 
to witness, in these our days of self-seeking 
ostentation, of the heaven-aspiring genius of 
our ancestors, — those noble spirits who lived 
before and about the times so emphatically con- 
demned, by the ignorance of later centuries, as 
the Dark Ages. Miss Agnew. 



LETTER OF FREDERICK 
EMMANUEL HURTER. 



The researches that I was obliged to make 
for the composition of my history of Pope In- 
nocent III. had fixed my attention upon the 
wonderful structure that distinguishes the edi- 
fice of the Catholic Church. I was lost in ad- 
miration in observing the vigorous direction 
imprinted by its long line of Sovereign Pontiff's, 
all worthy of their high position ; and I ad- 
mired the vigilance with which they maintained 
the unity and purity of its doctrine. 

In contradistinction to these facts the mobil- 
ity of the Protestant sects presented itself ; their 
pitiful dependence upon gov^ernment authority, 
their interior divisions, and their spirit of in- 
dividualism which submits their doctrine to the 
never-ending analysis of critics, the cavilling 
of theologians, and the free interpretations of 
preachers. Myself in the latter quality, and 
later on as a spiritual chief of a Protestant can- 
ton of Switzerland, I was looked upon as a sen- 
tinel charged to keep watch upon a post half 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 329 

lost, but obliged to defend it by ever}^ means 
in my power, with a firm and courageous reso- 
lution ; it was for this end that I upheld, with 
the most inflexible vigor, all the fundamental 
dogmas of revealed Christianity, those of the 
Trinity, of Original sin, of the Divinity of 
Jesus Christ, and of the Redemption. All my 
teachings, both as preacher and professor, 
tended to repulse every attempt at rationalism. 
I then seriously applied myself to fortify and 
maintain the surviving remnants of the true 
doctrine. But, at this period, the special object 
of my labors concerned more the exterior than 
the interior of the Church, rather its history and 
its constitution than its dogmas. Nevertheless, 
my religious conviction was already hurt to see 
the fraction of Protestantism to which I be- 
longed entirely set aside the devotion to the 
Blessed Virgin, either as taking no notice what- 
ever of her existence, or only looking upon her 
as an ordinary mother, and a simply pious 
woman. From my tender youth, without hav- 
ing sought to instruct myself by reading va- 
rious works, without entering into any discus- 
sion, or possessing a particular knowledge of 
the Catholic doctrine with regard to the Mother 
of God, I had always felt penetrated by an in- 



330 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOI Y FAITH ; OR 

expressible veneration for her. 1 saw in her 
the advocate of Christians, and in my private 
life, from the bottom of my heart, I addressed 
myself to her. In Protestant pulpits it is al- 
lowable completely to reject all that the found- 
ers of Protestantism have condescended to retain 
of the dogmas of Christianity, but to wish to 
preserve, or to re-establish, what they have re- 
jected, would, without the least doubt, from 
Protestants meet with violent opposition and 
the severest blame. Nevertheless, I endeavored 
to call attention to the Virgin^ (thus she is 
called even in the confession of Augsburg) and 
to bring to the minds of my fellow-believers 
what was the liigh signification of the person of 
the Mother of Christ. To go beyond that was 
not possible for me, in the particular situation 
in which I was placed. 

In the year 1840, the improper question was 
addressed to me, '' Was I a Protestant at 
heart ? " A question which had no reference 
to facts with regard to my public functions, 
but exclusively to the subject of '^ The History 
of Innocent HI.'' and " A Voyage to Vienna." 
I refused to answer this question, because it 
was endeavoring to ascertain rather what I did 
not believe than what I did. If, on the con- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 331 

trary, I had been asked : '' Are you a Catholic I " 
I should then, at that period, have answered 
by a decided negative. My refusal raised 
against me a complete storm, and ingratitude, 
contracted ideas, a narrow piety, envy, ven- 
geance, and political hatred all united against 
one man, who, on his side, defended himself 
with much warmth. At the present time, to 
tell the truth, I only owe thanks to my ene- 
mies; now that the fruit of justice and peace is 
ripe, I recognize in those struggles, that were 
then so painful to me, the salutary means em- 
ployed for my sanctification. Convinced that 
God, notwithstanding many long windings, has 
wished to conduct me from my earliest youth 
to the end I have attained at this blessed hour, 
I look upon the tempest which rolled over my 
head as the signal and impulsion of the course 
I have followed from that day and upheld 
with a firm and inflexible will. 

land all my famil}^ fell ill; two beloved 
daughters were snatched from me by death ; 
whilst in more than one Catholic convent of 
Switzerland prayers were said for the recovery 
of my children, Pieiism displayed a cruel joy, 
and felt happy to be able to plunge a triple 
sword into the heart of a father. I then was 



332 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ] OR 

profoundly convinced that with such people 
peace was only to be hoped for by consenting to 
bend under the hard yoke of a miserable blind- 
ness. Could my choice remain doubtful ? I re- 
jected dignities, places, revenues, and returned 
to private life, disgusted with a sect which by 
rationalism overturns all the dogmas of Christ- 
ianity, or by pietism tramples morality under 
foot. I did not, however, 3'et admit all tlie 
doctrines of tlie Catholic Church. But can it 
be imagined tliat four years of the life of a 
man who thinks, who likes research, and has 
the entire use of his tim.e, could be passed 
without either advancing or receding? No 
one would believe it. The truth is, that the 
bias given to my mind by Divine Providence 
has caused me to progress, which was like- 
wise hastened by my studies. I do not mean 
to say, that such and such persons would have 
influenced me directly or indirectly ; but the 
light showed itself, and shed a more distinct 
brilliancy from day to day upon the path 
which I followed. 

During the progress of my work I had to 
consult numerous authors upon the origin of 
the so-called reform, upon its causes and the 
means employed to fix its tenets and its politi- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 333 

cal influence, particularly upon England. 
Proofs were not wanting, even around me, 
which showed the fury that animates rational- 
ism against tlie Catholic Church, whilst it 
abandons Protestantism to its own free action, 
and even unites with it, because they both 
pursue the same end, the destruction of Cath- 
olicism. This other fact presented itself to me 
in the midst of my studies : Catholic nations, 
when plunged in the vortex of political rev- 
olutions, have the power to stop and recon- 
stitute themselves, whilst Protestant ones can- 
not steady themselves in their precipitate 
movements ; the former, when agitated by re- 
volutionary delirium, recover much sooner 
from this social malady than Protestant nations, 
and the latter only in proportion as their hos- 
tile sentiments against CatJiolics are weakened. 
The struggles, likewise, which the Catholic 
Church has undergone in our own age, and 
over the entire world, especially exercised a 
decisive influence upon my mind. I examined 
the moral value of the different parts, and the 
means of combat employed respectively by 
them. Here, I saw at the head of the enemies of 
the Church that autocrat who unites in his per- 
son the cruelty of a Domitian and the craftiness 



334 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

of a Julian; there, those political pharisees who 
emancipate the blacks to oppress the whites 
under a harder yoke and the weight of horrible 
misery, because they are Catholics ; ^ who cross 
the seas to f)ropagate with one hand the steril- 
ity of an evangelical doctrine, and with the 
other furnish daggers for every rebellion, f 
Here is Prussia, a Protestant country, where 
ever}^ stratagem of diplomatic perfidy has been 
employed to make the Lutherans and Calvin- 
ists co-operate, in order to crush more surely 
tlie Catholic Church ; in other German coun- 
tries ministerial despotism, inspired by the au- 
dacious and imprudent doctrines of Hegel, 
makes use of spies, judges, fines and prisons, 
against priests who are faithful to their belief. 
In France, deputies bring into play every arti- 
fice of an inexhaustible eloquence to restrict 
the rights of the Church ; government strains 
every nerve to maintain a legislation springing 
from the w^orst revolutionary passions; a su- 
perficial civilization reigns, the daughter of the 
press, the idolatry of material interests, a sys- 
tem of philosophy directed against God himself, 
and youth brought up in principles destructive 



* Ireland. f The English Missionaries. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 335 

of all social order. A monstrous assemblage 
of men and things, who jostle each other in the 
confusion to overturn the eternal edifice of 
Providence. 

Notwithstanding so many contrarieties and 
attacks, the breath of a better spirit is felt. 
From what point of the horizon it blows one 
cannot say, but it is impossible to deny that 
the Church gains ground, even where the most 
violent efforts are made to check it. The blows 
aimed only serve to strengthen it, and plans 
organized by those most powerful are baffled 
contrary to every expectation. 

These were the facts which made me serious- 
ly reflect upon the existence of an institution 
which rises, renewed and strengthened, from 
the struggle with so many enemies, whether 
openly declared, or hypocritically disguised. 

After giving in my dismission as president 
of the consistory, I dedicated my leisure mo- 
ments to the Catholic dogmas, and I profited, 
in this respect, by the reading of the Symbolical 
by Moehler. I had never doubted that Christ- 
ianity was a divine revelation ; but, at this 
period only, I examined certain assertions of 
Protestants, who pretend, for example, that 
Christianity only retained its purity during 



336 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

the first ages, and for twelve succeeding* ones 
was plunged in an abyss of errors and purely 
human institutions, an abyss that was at length 
only closed by the appearance of superior gen- 
iuses .... that is to say, of a monk rich in con- 
tradictions of every kind, and a debauched and 
rapacious king. Ought not simple common 
sense to forbid all confidence in a pretended 
reform conducted by persons whose moral 
value was so low and revolting^ Add to this 
the interior divisions of so many Protestant 
sects, their disagreement on all essential points 
of doctrine, and their union upon the one point 
only, of opposition and hatred to the Church. 
I was then led to perceive that the differences 
which exist in the Protestant doctrine mani- 
fested themselves in the very first days of re- 
form, in the same way as at the present day. 
There are amongst Protestants so many who 
astonish, by the strangeness of their systems, 
and the facility with which they change or 
modify according to the wants of tlie day. 
Not one of the least decisive causes which con- 
tributed to enlighten and fix me in my resolu- 
tion, was the certainty of finding, on the con- 
trary, amongst Roman Catholic theologians, 
unity and harmony of doctrine. The language 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 337 

of Protestant innovators respecting an invisible 
Church and the tradition of pure doctrine by 
means of an indefinite succession of heresies, 
cannot bHnd any one who has preserved or 
found the faculty of appreciating men and 
things. 

I was finally strengthened in this conviction 
by reading a German translation of the trea- 
tise of the Explanation of tlie Mass, by Innocent 
III. Such are the visible and palpable means 
which God made use of for my conversion. 
They can be understood and appreciated by 
every one ; the hidden motives which came 
from above, and are are only known in heaven, 
will remain a secret for men. 



UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 



The conclusion, then, to which we come 
from all the arguments adduced is, that the one, 
holy, Catholic, and Roman Church, is the one 
fold which the Good Shepherd has established, 
and over which He ever faithfully watches. 
We have shown how unity is necessary to the 
very existence of Christianity upon earth, how 
the divisions of Protestantism are suicidal and 
destructive of all faith, tliat tliere is no body 
besides the Catholic communion which even 
claim the prerogatives of Clirist's Church, and 
that her credentials are such that every reason- 
able man is bound to obey her. What more 
remains but to thank God that He hath made 
our path so clear, that He hath set the city of 
truth upon a hill where she cannot be hid ? 
He has promised that the Sion of His Son shall 
be exalted upon the mountains, and that all 
nations shall ascend to her. And so shall it 
be, when, as even now, the good and pure are 
coming to her altars, so long unknown, to wor- 
ship the God of Unity in spirit and truth, when 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 339 

the earnest are daily blessing tlie Lord of Life 
for the faith so long misunderstoods the truth 
they have so long sought, wliich is the un- 
speakable rest of their souls. 

Well may they say, in words wliich in these 
latter days have come from many hearts, 
ancient beauty, why have I not known thee 
before, since thou, in thy wonderful attractions, 
fillest up every want of my soul, and niakest 
my whole being to rejoice ? Why have I not 
seen thee in the face of universal nature, in the 
sunlight that paints this footstool of my Creator, 
in the shadows that pass so majestically over 
the lights of heaven, in the flowers that smile 
in brightness, in the fruits that crown the har- 
vest of the Almighty hand, in the animate 
creation which exults in praise, still more in 
my own wondrous being, formed by the Tri-une 
Mind, and called to endless beatitude ? O my 
mother, how hast thou drawn me to thy 
nourishing bosom, from the hour when first my 
reason opened to seek the face of God, or 
learned to bow down at the dearer name of my 
incarnate Lord ! How have I been famishing 
in strange pastures, for the food thou only hast 
treasured in thy plenteous stores ! how 
wonderful art thou, the fulness of my cruel- 



340 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

fied Lord, thou spouse of the Lamb, thou city 
of hoHness, thou home of the soul ! Here have 
I found rest till God shall call me from faith 
to fruition, from trial and conflict to His all- 
illuminating presence. When men deride thee, 
I will cling to thee more closely ; when they, 
through ignorance, speak evil of thee, I wdll 
wait in patience till thy truth and virtue shall 
be made known. If thy garments are soiled 
with the dust of ages, and no princely crown is 
on thy brow, yet thou art no worse than thy 
Master, who tracked His sorrowful way in His 
own blood, and went, bruised and broken- 
hearted, to Calvary. Thou bearest the image 
of thy Lord, suffering only to conquer, dying 
only to rise again. In thee I behold my only 
saviour, the emancipator of my darkened intel- 
lect, the rest of my wearied heart, the glorifier 
of my regenerated humanity. 

Let us pray God that, in these Advent days, 
He may be pleased to send light to those who 
are seeking, and repose to those who have 
toiled in vain, that the Orient from on high 
may rise in the full splendor of His beams up- 
on our beloved country, and bring back the 
erring to the knowledge of the truth; the wan- 
dering to their Father^s house, that all in unity 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 341 

may worship the one God, and rejoice in the 
graces of ^^ One Lord, one Faith, and one Bap- 
tism." 

Right Rev. Monsignor T. S. Preston, 

Christian Unity. 



CHRISTIAN RESIGNATION. 



We have seen what Christian resignation is 
not. Let us now attempt to tell something* of 
w^hat it is. 

The definitions of faith are not the only ones 
over which the Church exercises her sovereign 
dictation. She is equally authoritative in morals ; 
and doctrine comprises both. The Church, 
then, is at once orthodoxy in belief and in- 
fallible rectitude in moral ideas. The creed, 
translated and transferred to the domain of 
action, gives moral precepts their value and 
meaning, guarding the truth it teaches alike 
from narrow interpretation and undue exten- 
sion, and from every deviation and misplace- 
ment, whereby the order of their importance 
might be reversed. God, who excludes nothing 
because he embraces all, causes all simul- 
taneities to march abreast. He has made space 
for every thing, — in nature, in the duality of 
man, and in that spiritual world also, where all 
virtues as well as all verities, are reconciled one 
with another. Religion presents them to us in 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 343 

the light of sisters, who have an equnl right to 
the paternal inheritance, who are destined al- 
ways to support, and never to injure one an- 
otlier ; no one of whom can lawfully enlarge 
her sphere to the prejudice of the others, the 
integrity of each having been placed in the safe 
keeping of all. 

Thus does Christian resignation pursue her 
way over the reefs of brute fatalism and Indian 
quietism, favoring no excess, and defending 
from all encroachments even, as well as from all 
irregularity. Fair enougli to desire only her 
own proper beauty ; strong enough to confine 
herself to her own limits ; at once lofty and 
lowly enough to treat directly with God ; free, 
living, strong, generous, calm, serene, and in- 
comparably worthy. Resignation wears all these 
characters in succession, or presents them min- 
gled in one sublime reflection. 

Yes : she is proud and worthy, this Resigna- 
tion of the bowed head and bended knee. We 
may not deprive her of the lofty place which 
voluntary obedience assures to freedom. That 
cry of the Archangel Michael, " The Lord re- 
buke thee," is — to quote an eloquent writer — 
the noblest wish that one creature may form in 
favor of another. '' The Lord rebuke thee ;" 



344 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

and tenderness and power shall accompany the 
rebuke, and His yoke shall free thee from 
every other. 

Yes, resignation is free : for there is no 
more sovereign act than that whereby we resign 
our freedom ! Resignation is living and glori- 
ous : living for thee is more life in the death of 
him who, according to the Gospel, dies to him- 
self, than in the majority of those shadowy, 
ghostlike beings, whom conflict, devotion, and 
sacrifice have never enrolled ; glorious, for the 
Christian resigns himself as Abraham obeyed. 
The revealed word has taught him all things ; 
and its teaching, either in the form of speech 
or tradition, encounters him again, and quite as 
intelligibly, in the events which God, never 
rejecting the aid of our weakness, chooses for 
the manifestation of His will. The conduct- 
ing wire, which the faithful holds in his hands, 
is too brightly illumined for him to be troubled 
by doubts on questions of duty ; and as he is 
not required to give an account of the chances 
of success, but merely of the rectitude of his 
every step, whenever action is constrained to 
pause, submission comes in its stead. 

Resignation is calm and serene, with that 
visible serenity, whose flame is within and 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 345 

which constitutes the joy of virtue. Resigna- 
tion lives on reverence and on trust; but it has 
also a keen and loving glance, by virtue of 
which the adoi-able stratagems which a pitying 
God employs to reconcile men to his purposes 
are rendered clear to its eyes. 

Thus the night of our exile has shades, but it 
has no darkness. While its action goes on and 
its issue is undecided, strength and moral activ- 
ity receive their complete development ; but as 
soon as the conflict ceases, and an aspect of 
irrevocability proclaims the divine permission or 
sanction, the Christian bows to these ; and his 
will, uniting with the Supreme Will, takes its 
place, to use the magnificent words of Bossuet, 
among the powers of God. 

The acceptance of suff'ering — that is to say, 
submission to the will of God — ^partakes so en- 
tirely of the nature of that piety to which have 
been promised the good things of this life as 
well as those of the life to come, that it harmo- 
nizes with all the instincts of a lofty nature. 
Thus an instinct deeply engraven upon the 
soul is solidarity. But to rebel against the 
sorrow of the race is to isolate one's self from 
the rest of humanity ; to refuse to bear one's 
part of the heavy sentence under which it la- 



346 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

bors, to separate one's self from one's brethren, 
to be insensible to the blows which fall on 
them ; to choose not to be smitten when tliey 
are, in short, to lose the power even of say- 
ing with the poet, '' Humani nihil a me alienum 
puto;^^ for we have but a lip-sympathy with 
the lot which we will not share. 

This multiplied echo of all hearts that have 
ever beat in the heart that is beating still ; this 
burning conviction that each one of us might 
have committed the crimes committed by all ; 
this solidarity which causes the heart to leap 
unceasingly in sympathy, in exultation, in wrath, 
or in pity; this sentiment, so strong when it is 
merely natural, receives from Christianity a 
loftier life and a very different aim. 

What ! when Abraham obeys, when Job 
suffers himself to be despoiled, when David 
bathes his sin in his tears, and the new Isaac 
consummates his sacrifice upon Calvary, 
shall we sinners revolt against obedience, 
poverty, tears, or death ? The mother of Christ 
survived her divine Son, and shall we not en- 
dure to have Christ pierce us with the same 
sword of sorrow ? Ah ! were such our disposi- 
tion, what a threatening contradiction would it 
not receive from the innumerable throng of 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 347 

martyrs and saints, whose lives were but a 
paraphrase of that sublime word of Saint 
Teresa, ^^To suflfer and to die"! 

Madame Swetchine, 

Writings. 



THE SUPREME DOMINION OF 
GOD. 



''Give ye magnificence," says the holy 
Prophet Moses, " to our God ; the works of God 
are perfect, and all His ways are judgments." 
Deut. xxxii. 3. '' There is none among the 
gods," says David, ''like to Thee, Lord; and 
there is none according to Thy works. All the 
nations Thou hast made shall come and adore 
before Thee, O Lord ; and they shall glorify 
Thy name, for Thou art great, and dost wonder- 
ful things ; Thou art God alone." Ps. Ixxxv. 8. 
*' The heavens shall confess Thj wonders, 
Lord ; and Thy trutli in the Church of the saints; 
for who in the clouds can be compared to the 
Lord *? or who among the sons of God shall be 
like to God ? God, who is glorified in the as- 
sembly of the saints, great and terrible above 
all them that are about Him. Lord God of 
hosts, who is like to Thee ? Thou art mighty, O 
Lord, and Thy truth is round about Thee. Thou 
rulest the power of the sea and appeasest the 
motion of the waves thereof ; . . . Thine are the 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 349 

heavens, and Thine is the earth ; the world, and 
the fulness thereof, Thou hast founded ; the 
north and the south Thou hast created. . . . Let 
Thy hand be strengthened, and Thy right hand 
exalted ! " Ps. Ixxxviii. 6. 

^^ There is none like to Thee, Lord : Thou 
art great, and Thy name is might. Who shall 
not fear Thee, King of nations ? For Thine 
is the glory ; among all the wise men of the 
nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is 
none like unto Thee. They shall be proved to- 
gether to be senseless and foolish, a stock is the 

doctrine of their vanity But the Lord is 

the true God ; He is the living God, and the 
everlasting King ; at His wrath the earth shall 
tremble, and the nations shall not be able to 
abide His threatening,'' Jer. x. 6. The saints 
in heaven are penetrated with fear and rever- 
ence, on considering the wonderful works of 
God, how much more ought we poor mortals ] 
Thus St. John heard these blessed spirits prais- 
ing God, '' great and wonderful are Thy works^ 
O Lord God Almighty ; just and true are Tliy 
ways, King of Ages ; who shall not fear Thee, 
O Lord, and magnify Thy name ? " Rev. xv. 3. 
Even the heathen king Darius, when he saw 
the wonderful power of God in delivering 



350 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

Daniel from the lions, immediately sent tliese 
orders to all his subjects : *'It is decreed by 
me, that in all my empire and my kingdom, 
all men dread and fear the God of Daniel. For 

He is the living and eternal God forever ; 

He is the deliverer and the Saviour doing signs 
and wonders in Heaven and earth," Dan. vi. 26. 
And no wonder that the infinite power of God 
should produce this fear and dread of Him in 
our minds, when we reflect what He is, and 
what we are before Him. The Wise Man pro- 
poses to us this consideration, addressing him- 
self to God in these affecting terms : " great 
power always belonged to Thee alone; and 
who shall resist the strength of Thy arm ? For 
the whole world before Thee is as the least grain 
of the balance, and as a drop of the morning 
dew, that falleth down upon the eartli." Wisd. 
xi. 22. And Isaias, in still stronger light, pro- 
poses to us the same important truth. '^ Who,'^ 
says he, ^' hath measured the waters in the 
hollow of his hand, and weighed the heavens 
with his palm ? Who hath poised, with three 
fingers, the bulk of the earth, and weighed the 
mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance ? 
Who hath forwarded the spirit of the Lord ; or 
who hath been His counsellor, and hath taught 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 351 

Him ? . . . Behold the nations areas a drop of 
a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain 
of a balance : behold the islands are as a little 
dust, ... all nations are before Him as if they 
had no being at all and are counted to Him as 
nothing and vanity." Is. xl. 13. And hence the 
royal prophet says to God : '^ Thou art fear- 
fully magnified, wonderful are Thy works, and 
these my soul knoweth right well,'' Ps. 
cxxxviii. 14 

'' Stiffen your necks no more," says Moses , 
because the Lord your God, He is the God of 
the gods, and the Lord of Lords, a great God 
and Almighty, and terrible, who accepteth no 
person nor taketh bribes . - . Thou shalt fear 
the Lord thy God, and serve Him only ; to 
Him thou shalt adhere, and swear by His name. 
He is thy praise and thy God that hath done 
for thee those great and terrible things, which 

thy eyes have seen Therefore, love the 

Lord thy God, and observe His precepts and 
ceremonies, His judgments and commandments 
at all times," Deut. x. 16; xi. 1. ^^ See ye," 
says God himself, '' that I alone am, and there 
is no other god besides Me : I will kill, and I 
will make alive, I will strike and will heal ; and 
there is none that can deliver out of My hand. 



352 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

If I shall whet My sword as the lightning, 

and My hand shall take hold on judgment, I 
will render vengeance to My enemies, and re- 
pay them that hate Me. I will make My arrows 
drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour 
flesh of the blood of the slain and of the cap- 
tivity, and of the bare head of tlie enemies." 
Deut. xxxii. 39. How dreadful it must be to 
fall into the hands of such a God, who can do 
what he pleases, and will not spare His enemies ! 
The prophet Jeremias, confounded at this 
thought, cries out thus to Grod : "0 most 
mighty, great, and powerful, the Lord of Hosts 
is Thy name: great in council, and incompre- 
hensible in thought, whose eyes are upon all the 
ways of the children of Adam, to render unto 
every one according to his ways, and according 
to the fruit of his devices ! " Jer. xxxii. 18. 
Hear, also, how the prophet Nahum describes 
the terrors of His avenging power against His 
enemies : ^^ The Lord is a jealous God and a re- 
venger ; the Lord is a revenger and hath wrath : 
the Lord taketh vengeance on His adversaries, 
and is angry with His enemies ! The Lord is pa- 
tient and great in power, and will not cleanse and 
acquit the guilty. The Lord's ways are in a 
tempest and a whirlwind, and the clouds are 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVEKTS. 353 

the dust of His feet He rebuketh the sea and 
drieth it up, and bringeth all the rivers to be 
a desert. . . . The mountains tremble at Him, 
and the hills are made desolate : and tlie earth 
hath quaked at His presence, and the world 
and all that dwell therein. Who can stand 
before the face of His indignation ? and who 
shall resist in the fierceness of His anger? His 
indignation is poured out like fire, and the 
rocks are melted by Him." Nahum i. 1. " Fear 
ye not the reproaches of men," says God Him- 
self, '^and be not afraid of their blasphemies, 
for the worm shall eat them up as a garment, 
and the moth shall consume them as wool, but 
My salvation shall be forever, and My justice 
from generation to generation .... Who art thou 
that thou shouldst be afraid of mortal man, and 
of the son of man, that shall wither away like 
grass ? And thou hast forgotten the liOrd thy^ 
Maker, who stretched out the heavens and 
founded the earth. And thou hast been afraid 
continually all the day^ at the presence of his 
fury, who had afflicted thee, and hath prepared 
himself to destroy thee : where now is the iury 
of the oppressor f — .But I am the. Lord thy 
God, who trouble the sea, and the waves thereof 
swell: the Lord of hosts is Mv name." Is. li. 7* 



354 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

12. And Christ Himself, in the gospel, draws 
the same conclusion from the mighty power of 
God : ''I say to 3 ou, my friends, be not afraid 
of them that kill the body, and after that have 
no more that they can do ; but I will show you 
whom you shall fear ; fear ye Him who, after He 
hath killed, hath power to cast into hell ; yea, I 
say unto you fear Him." Luke xii. 4. 

The holy prophet David whose heart, as we 
have seen above, was penetrated with the fear 
of God, and '' who was delighted in the way of 
his testimonies above all riches, who was exer- 
cised in his commandment, and meditated upon 
his justifications," Ps. cxviii., thus expresses 
the great confidence he had in Divine protec- 
tion : '^ Our God is our refuge and strength, a 
helper in troubles which have found us exceed- 
ingly ; therefore, we will not fear when the 
earth shall be troubled, and the mountains shall 
be removed into the heart of the sea." Ps. xlvi. 
1. '^The Lord is my light and my salvation, 
whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the protector 
of my life ; of whom shall I be afraid ? While 
the wicked draw near against me to eat my 
flesh, mv enemies that troubled me have them- 
selves been weakened and have fallen. If arm- 
ies in camp should stand together against me. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 355 

my heart shall not fear ; if a battle should raise 
up against me in this will I be confident." Ps. 
xxvi. 1. Now, whence does this confidence in 
God arise ? Wlio are those whom God pro- 
tects? The same royal prophet tells us: 
'' Who is the man," says he, "' that feareth the 
Lord ? He hath appointed him a law in the 
way that he hath chosen. His soul shall dwell 
in good things, and his seed shall inherit the 
land ; tlie Lord is a firmament to them that 
fear Him," Ps. xxiv. 12. God liimself confirms 
the same thing. ^' To whom," says He, ^^ shall 
I have respect, but to him tliat is poor, and lit- 
tle, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth 
at My words ? " and a little after He adds, 
*' Hear the word of the Lord, you that tremble 
at His word ; your brethren that hate you, and 
cast you out for my name's sake, . . . they shall 
be confounded." Ps. Ivi. 2, 5. And the beloved 
disciple adds : '' Dearly beloved, if our hearts 
do not reprehend us, we have confidence to- 
wards God : and whatsoever we shall ask, we 
shall receive of Him : because we keep His com- 
mandments, and do those things that are pleas- 
ing in His sight." L John iii. 21. 

Right Rev. George Hay, 

The Devout Christian, 



CHURCH-OF-ENaLANDISM. 



Moved by the grace of God, 1 now enter on 
the confutation of that schism in which, alas ! 
I lived for many years. I lived in it, it is true, 
not so much of my own choice as owing to the 
effects of a corrupt education : for educated in 
schism from my infancy, I embraced error in- 
stead of truth — a sect instead of the Church. 
Yet I adore the bounty of Divine Providence 
in [affording me a liberal education. For by the 
means of the education which I received, and 
the assistance of the grace and blessing of God, 
not only was I restrained from the commission 
of many wicked crimes into which others 
plunged; but, also, the gloom of ignorance 
being dispelled, my mind was gradually pre- 
pared for embracing the true Catholic Faith. 

After the nefarious regicide of Charles the 
First, King of Great Britain, to whose party I 
had always attached myself, I quitted the king 
dom, and during my sojourn abroad, began seri- 
ously to reflect on the great and manifold perils 
from which, through the mercy of God, I had 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 357 

already escaped. These considerations led me 
to think on the vanity, the uncertainty, the 
brief and fleeting duration of earthly joys and 
possessions, in the idle pursuit of which so 
much labor is expended, and so much anxiety 
felt, by the great bulk of mankind ; and whilst 
in this salutary frame of mind, I entered into the 
resolution of using for the future more diligence 
for securing true and eternal happiness than 
I had heretofore employed. One thing, how- 
ever, caused me the greatest possible uneasi- 
ness — namely, that I knew not with which 
Church to associate myself. I believed in the 
existence of only one ^ri^6? Church; but which 
that one was, I knew not. I did not, indeed, 
at that time, doubt but that the Church which 
the King and the Bishops of his persuasion 
had defended, and with which I had always held 
communion, was a true part of the Church, but 
I could not find such a Church out of my own 
country. I thought it possible that that Church 
might never be restored ; but it appeared to 
me most absurd to say, the Universal Church 
should perish with it. I vehemently desired to 
find the truth ; but my mind fluctuated as to 
the mode of arriving at it. I supplicated Al- 
mighty God to grant me his assistance in this 



358 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

important affair, and pondered in my mind 
many considerations regarding it : but for the 
space of several months I was unable to arrive 
at any fixed conclusion. At length, after the 
most serious consideration, and after gravely 
and repeatedly reflecting on various plans, my 
mind became impressed with the absolute 
necessity of adopting the following— namely, 
that I should consult the Fathers and Doctors 
of the primitive Church, of wliose fidelity and 
piety I could entertain no doubt, and who, 
because they flourished at a period so remote 
from our contentious times, I concluded, were 
wholly free from party zeal, and should, on 
that account, be deemed impartial witnesses. 

1 determined, therefore, to devote some years 
to this study, firmly resolved on embracing the 
doctrine of Faith handed down b}^ them, and 
on joining communion with whatever Church 
I should find teaching the same doctrine at the 
present day. After a course of reading which 
occupied seven yearSj and which, by the grace 
of God, I concluded with great delight, but 
with still greater fruit and advantage, I care- 
fully read over the notes that I had choicely 
extracted during my previous course of study. 
Then, on comparing the doctrine of Faith 



TESTIMONIES OP DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 359 

handed down by the primitive CathoHc Church 
with that of the Church of England (to which 
I had before belonged), I found the former in 
many points at open variance with the latter ; 
but discovered it to be the very same as that 
which the Roman CathoHc Church teaches and 
promulgate sat the present day. Wherefore I 
was at the same time affected with sorrow and 
joy; with sorrow, because I had so long lived in 
schism — with joy, that I should at length, by 
Divine mercy and grace, be freed from it. I im- 
mediately fled from schism, of my own accord, 
presented myself as a suppliant suing for peace 
from the Church — and this I obtained accord- 
ing' to the usual form of reconciliation. 

O Father of mercies ! ^ Father of lights ! 
from whom is every best, and every perfect 
gift, t may my brethren, tlu'ough the Spirit of 
Truth, and for love of thy Son, '' Wlio is the 
way and tlie truth, " J be brought into the way 
of truth. Thou, ^^ wlio art cliarity," § l)y tlie 
spirit of charity gather them into unity, that we, 
beii g all unnnimous in the Catliolic Churcli, 
may Avith one voice chant in canticles the 
greatness of Thy mercy and of Thy grace ; and 



2 Cor. 3. t James i. 17. \ John xiv. 6. § John iv. 8. 



360 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH. 

offer sacrifices of praise to Thee and to Thy 
Son, and to the Holy Ghost, in truth and 
charity, forever and ever. Amen. 

Alexander White, 
Confutation of Church-ofEnglandism. 



SHADOWS OF THE CROSS. 



The Catholic is, and has ever been, hated by 
the world. I need not prove this ; you know 
and see it. A man naay be any thing else that 
he will. He may be a Churchman, or a Dis- 
senter, or among the Dissenters he may join 
whatever particular sect of Dissent he likes best, 
or he may make a new one if he will. His 
neighbors will care nothing about this: his 
friends and family will laugh, and perhaps shrug 
their shoulders, and there is an end of it. Men 
may laugh at him, but they will not think 
worse of him, much less do they hate him. He 
may have no religion at all if he pleases, and 
they will feel it is no business of theirs. But 
if he dares to become a Catholic, he nmst pre- 
pare himself for the hatred of all the world. 
Even by dear friends and relations he will pro- 
bably find himself altogether abandoned, or at 
least coldly received. Educated men and wom- 
en will behave towards him as they would to no 
other man, making in his case an exception to 
the common rules of courtesy and civility. 



362 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

Now all this is no new thing; for when the 
Church of Christ was first set up in the world, 
then it was that the world was moved. The 
w^orld hated the Church, and feared it, and in- 
vented all manner of strange and horrible fables 
against it. It raged at the sight of it, as the 
devil often did when our Lord was about to 
cast him out of those wlio were possessed. 

For my part, all this gives me much comfort 
and encouragement. I see the world raging 
because the Lord is among men in His true 
Church. In all this rage and clamor I see the 
shadow of the cross, and where the cross is, 
there is Jesus. I remember that He said, ^' The 
servant is not greater than his Lord. If they 
have persecuted Me, they will also persecute 
you ; if they have kept My saying, they will 
keep yours also." John xv. 20. ^ This is one 
sign that the Catholic Church is the true Church 
of God, — all men hate her. She wins the bless- 
ing given by our Lord Jesus Christ: '' Blessed 
are ye when men shall revile you, and perse- 
cute you, and shall say all manner of evil 
against you falsely, for My sake." Matt. 
V. 11. "The time cometh, that whosoever 



* I quote the Protestant version, as being that with which you are 
familiar. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 363 

killeth you will think that he doetli God service." 
John xvi. 2. To be good and to be called 
wicked ; to do good and to suffer ill ; these are 
the marks and seals of the people of the cruci- 
fied Jesus ; and these marks are now, as ever, 
upon the Catholic Church. 

And yet, wonderful to say, amidst this strife 
of tong-ues, God is ever finding* his own. One 
after another they are drawn in : they begin by 
curiosity perhaps ; they go on to doubt whether 
there is not some truth in the Catholic religion 
after all ; they inquire ; they hesitate, not dar- 
ing to act; some go back, as men did from our 
Lord Himself, John vi. 66 ^ others persevere 
and become Catholics. Many trials have those 
who do so ; but, amid them all, they have that 
presence and favor of Christ our Lord which 
makes trials easy and afflictions sweet. 

Let us pray that in our several trials and 
difficulties we may all have the grace from God 
to ''stand firm, acquit us like men, be strong.'' 
'' The time is short — the fashion of this world 
passeth away." Very soon it will be nothing at 
all to us whether we have been rich or poor, 
honored or depised by men, cherished or aban- 
doned by friends. But whether we have in- 
deed been earnest and sincere in striving to 



364 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH. 

know the will of God — whether we have from 
our hearts prayed to Him to guide and enlight- 
en us to know it — whether we have been ready 
at all costs to follow it when we knew it, — these 
things will be to us of moment unspeakable, in- 
finite, everlasting. Let this, then, be your 
prayer : *' Give me. Lord, knowledge of Thy 
will in all things, both small and great. Give 
me grace to choose, to follow, to do, to love it, 
at all costs, and simply because it 4s Thine.'' 
Long, my dear friends, has this been my 
daily prayer ; let it be yours, and who can say 
how soon God by His grace may lead you in- 
to that Church into which He has brought mco 
Henry William Wilberforce, 
Beasonsfor Submitting to the Catholic Church. 



LETTER OF THE REV. LORD 
CHARLES THYNNE. 

My dear Friends, — When you were first com- 
mitted to my charge some years ago, I little 
thought that anything short of death itself 
could ever separate me from you ; there were 
many ties, associations, and interests prevail- 
ing to make our connection secure ; and as in 
after years we began to know and understand 
each other, as I learnt the nature of your 
wants, and the difficulties of your condition, a 
far deeper interest took possession of me, and 
separation seemed to me still more impossible. 
I had learnt to share your sorrows and your 
joys, and I was thankful to you for the con- 
fidence placed in me, and for the way in which 
you allowed me to become acquainted with 
circumstances which were your trial, and with 
thoughts which occupied your minds. I hoped, 
as it was my duty to do all in my power to 
lead you to God, if I might be permitted to 
spend my life in your service — that my life 
might wear itself out among you in offices of 



366 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

love. But I will not speak of what my hopes 
once were. After an intimate acquaintance of 
fifteen years it cannot be necessary for me to 
say that nothing but the strongest sense of duty 
could have induced me to sever the connection 
which existed between us. You will at least 
believe me when I say that the strong affection 
I have, and must ever have, for you, has made 
the duty of leaving you one of no ordinary trial. 

Seeing how much of the happiness of others 
would be involved in my act, I consulted the 
most learned, and even endeavored by an act 
of the will to crush the thoughts that were con- 
tinually rising up in my mind. For this I nmst 
ever humble myself in deep penitence before 
God, that in my blindness I once strove against 
Him, when He would in mercy call me to Him- 
self. But the stirrings of God's grace are might- 
ier than any human efforts, and, thanks be to 
His holy name. He did not leave me till He had 
blessed me ; He did not forsake me, but has 
guided me to His Holy Hill, where I hope and 
pray to dwell in safety forever. But perhaps 
you will say to me, '' Why did you not go on 
struggling against these doubts, you might have 
succeeded in overcoming them at last?" 

My dear friends, I will tell you why I did 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 367 

not do so. 1st. Because I did not dare. I be- 
lieved that God's grace was at work, and I 
dared no longer resist it. 2dly. I remember 
that the principle of the Church of England, of 
which I was then a minister, was that each man 
should satisfy his own mind by examining 
every doctrine for himself, and should not be 
required to accept anything as true until he had 
satisfied his own mind upon it. I, therefore, 
searched the Scriptures, and by the exercise of 
the right of private judgment, which the Church 
of England affirms to be the right of all her 
members, I was convinced that my plain and 
obvious duty was to submit myself to the one 
true Church of Christ — the one Holy Catholic 
and Apostolic Church — which is governed by 

BishoDS united under one visible head — the 

i. 

Bishop of Rome. 

I read in the Bible that unity is the mark 
which Grod has set upon all His works. When 
the world was sunk in guilt, and Almighty God 
overthrew it, He saved one family, the family 
of Noah. Afterwards He called and blessed one 
family, the family of Abraham. Then He 
chose out one nation, and then established one 
Church. Afterwards He sent His son into the 
world, the visible manifestation of God in the 



368 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

flesh, to save the world ; and when Jesus Christ 
came fulfilling the law, He was not the author 
of confusion, for He still maintained the same 
principle oi unity. He founded the one Church ; 
He laid the foundations upon one rock ; He 
called her the one fold of the one Shepherd — 
the one vine, the one kingdom ; He instituted 
one Baptism and one Eucharist. As the Jewish 
Church was the shadow of that more perfect 
Church which was to come, and was one, so the 
substance which cast forth the shadow, the great 
reality wliich had been prefigured is one also. 
So we find the Apostles afterwards speaking 
only of one Church — of one Society of Christ — - 
of one body, one house, and of Christian ^mY^/ 
as abiding in the Apostles' doctrine and fellow- 
ship. The Church is the one dove, the one ark 
of safety, the one faith; she is the visible pres- 
ence of our divine Lord's mystical body upon 
earth, and, like the eternal Godhead, one. Her 
object is to preserve Christianity, or the revela- 
tion of God, by which salvation has been, and 
is continually announced to man ; and as Chris- 
tianity or revelation is one^ so the Church, the 
keeper of that revelation, is one also. 

It is, therefore, impossible to admit the theory 
of independent national Churches — of Churches 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 369 

bounded by territory and separated from all 
others. The principle of particular Churches 
is a dissolution of unity, and destroys Catholic- 
ity. ^^ As the sun is one and the same through- 
out the universe, so the preaching of the truth 
shines everywhere and enlightens all men who 
wish to come to a knowledge of the truth." 

Farewell, my dear friends. May God ever 
bless you, and watch over you, and may it 
please him to restore to our country her lost in- 
heritance. 

Always your affectionate friend, 
Charles Thynne, 



THE INFLUENCE OF CATHOLICISM 
ON THE INTELLECTUAL FACUL- 
TIES. 



If it be asked, liow is it that when the means 
of secular training were to so great an ex- 
tent torn from the Catholic body by the per- 
secution of the law, there yet remained to 
them any such powerful instrument for prevent- 
ing the entire stagnation of the natural facul- 
ties ; I reply, that taken as a mere means for 
cultivating the intellect, the Catholic religion 
stands pre-eminent among all the branches of 
human knowledge. Bind and fetter the Cath- 
olic as you may ; tread him under foot ; tram- 
ple upon him ; rob him of every earthly good ; 
drive him from all intelligent society; burn 
his books ; shut up his schools ; denounce him 
as a slave, till you have done your utmost to 
make him one ; still, so long as he retains his 
religion, he has that within him which feeds 
the intellectual flame, and suffers it never to 
be wholly extinguished, and preserves in every 
faculty of his soul a marvellous elasticity y which 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 371 

will make it spring forth into life and action 
the moment that the repressing power is with- 
drawn, and he enters the lists with his fellow- 
countrymen a free and unpersecuted man. 

The source of this intellectual discipline is 
to be found in the nature of those subjects of 
thouo^ht to which the Catholic relig-ion directs 
the minds of its followers. While every di- 
vision of Protestantism is of so vague, incon- 
sistent, varying, and depressing a character, 
that minds of a higli order, free, energetic 
spirits, find pleasure and training for their 
powers only in criticising its statements, de- 
stroying its foundations, and detecting its ab- 
surdities, Catholicism calls forth the energies 
of the mind by a directly opposite process. It 
is by the contemplation of the perfections of 
Catholicism, by repeated examinations into 
the strength of its basis, by the study of its 
wondrous scientific completeness, that the 
Catholic intelligence is disciplined. The Pro- 
testant exults in the destruction of the follies 
which he sees to have enthralled his Protestant 
brethren of less keen penetration than himself 
The more he searches into his own belief, the 
more inconsistencies he discovers, the more he 
is startled at the intellectual imposture to which 



372 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

mankind have been giving credence. Protest- 
ant theological science consists in a systematiz- 
ing of unbelief, in the gradual erection and com- 
pletion of a system of philosophy which, while 
it assumes the name of Christianity, is virtually 
a denial of everything positive and distinctive 
in Christianity as a revelation, and is nothing 
more than Deism, Pantheism, or Atheism, un- 
der a new name. 

With us, the very reverse is the fact. Every 
fresh addition to the philosophy, the poetry, 
the moral or dogmatic science of the Church, is 
an addition to the strength and durability of 
her entire system. We destroy nothing. We 
develop, we add, we expound, we illustrate, 
we enforce, we adapt, but we never take away 
or deny what was once held. And thus it is 
that the employment of the faculties of the 
mind in the contemplation of the theology and 
practices of Catliolicism, even when every 
means of education is rent awav, is sufficient to 
communicate a certain measure of intellectual 
vigor and keenness. The mind is perpetually 
directed to the examination of a vast, far- 
stretching body of truths, relating to the pro- 
foundest possible subjects of thought, arranged, 
defined, analyzed, and connected by the labors 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 373 

of centuries and centuries ; expounded in books 
in every language, embodied in devotions of 
every kind, illustrated by innumerable cere- 
monies and customs, and accompanied with the 
practice of a system of morals in comparison of 
whose scientific completeness it is not too much 
to say, that the ordinary moral and physical 
sciences of secular life are but as the guess- 
work of a speculator or the crotchets of an em- 
piric. Under the influence of this extraordi- 
nary system, the pure reasoning powers, the 
imagination, the taste, with the whole of our 
moral being, romantic, self-sacrificing, shrewd, 
and practical, undergoes a degree of drilling^ 
so to say, which I believe to be utterly in- 
comprehensible to those who judge of the effect 
of theological science upon the intellect by the 
results which they see produced by the positive 
creeds of Protestantism, such as they are. 

J. M. Capes, 
Four Years^ Experience of the Catholic Beligion. 



THE CASE OF GALILEO. 



It is held by all thoroughly approved theo- 
logians, that Holy Scripture differs from all 
other books, in the fact that it is throughout 
the Word of God ; that every proposition which 
it contains is infallibly true, in that sense in 
which God intended it. We are very far from 
denying that this doctrine, particularly in the 
present day, is surrounded with great difficul- 
ties, which require a controversialist's attentive 
consideration. But one matter must be treated 
at a time ; and our present subject is not the 
inspiration of Scripture, but the doctrinal de- 
crees of a Pontifical Congregation. The above 
named doctrine then on Scripture will be as- 
sumed as true in every part of the following 
discussion. 

The Holy Father is appointed by God guard- 
ian of the Apostolic Deposit ; and it is his pro- 
vince, therefore, to warn Catholics against 
opinions and modes of thought which he may 
judge averse to doctrinal purity. But all the 
statements of Scripture, rightly understood, 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS, 375 

and the true doctrine, moreover, of Scriptural 
inspiration, are parts of the Apostolic Deposit. 
Hence, it is his province to warn Catholics 
against opinions or modes of tliought which may 
tend to irreverence towards the Written Word. 
Those controversialists, whether Catholic or 
Protestant, who censure the condemnation of 
Galileo, are in the habit of assuming, almost as 
a matter of course, that the Scripture texts 
which are the grounds of his condemnation 
are manifestly irrelevant; that they merely 
purport to describe phenomena as such ; and 
that, in their simple and obvious sense, they 
would not be otherwise understood. So, among 
others, speaks Dr. Pusey, in his admirable vol- 
ume on Daniel. We are amazed at this opin- 
ion. It may, indeed, be perhaps truly main- 
tained in regard to Jos. x. 12-14, or Isaiah 
xxxviii. 8, which tells of Josue's miracle and 
Achaz's sundial. Nay, it may perhaps be truly 
maintained as to most, or even all, of those 
texts which speak of the sun's motion. But 
consider the following: (Ps. ciii. 5) ''Thou who 
didst found the earth on its stable support (super 
stabilitatem suam) ; it shall not he moved for ever,'''' 
(Ps. xcii. 1), "He hath fixed the earth tvhieh 
shall not he movedP (Job xxxviii. 4-6), where 



376 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

God Himself speaks : '' Where wast thou," 
asked the Creator, '* when I laid the foundation 
of the earth? Upon what were its supports es- 
tabhshed ? " (super quo bases illius stabilitae 
sunt) ? Texts altogether similar are Ps. xvii. 
16; Ixxxi. 5; xcv. 10 ; cxxxv. 6 ; Pro v. iii. 19; 
viii. 29. We entreat our readers to study suc- 
cessively these various texts. It is most unfair 
to speak, as Dr. Pusey speaks, of '' the mis- 
takes of theologians," in the interpretation of 
these texts. Surelv, had it not been for the 
Copernican theory, no one who believes in the 
inspiration of Scripture would have thought 
of doubting, that in them God expressly de- 
clares the earth's immobility. If any one hes- 
itates at this statement on first reading them, 
he must be convinced, if he will put into 
words his own version of their meaning. Take 
e. ^., the first: Ps. ciii. 5: *' Thou who didst 
found the earth on its stable support. It shall 
not be moved forever." This means, as we are 
now aware, ^'Thou who didst place the earth 
on its orbit ; it shall not cease from steadily 
revolving therein ; " but wlio will say that this 
is a sense in the slightest degree obvious?^ 



* We cannot give the Copernican interpretation a better advantage, 
than by quoting Berthier s note on the verse. " This globe is placed 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 377 

And the same test may be applied with equal 
efficacy to every text we have named. 

No inconvenience, however, arises, nor is 
there any irreverence towards God's Wi'itten 
Word, though this or that text be understood in 
a very iinobvious sense, if that sense be affixed 
in deference to some definite, tangible, object- 
ive rule, the reasonableness of which is suffi- 
ciently established. It is, indeed, somewhat re- 
markable, that the strongest instance producible 
of this is altogether independent of science and 
its discoveries. The Agnoetse were condemned 
as heretics, for holding that our Blessed Lord, in 
His human nature, knew not ^'the day and 
hour" of divine judgment. The Church, there- 
fore, imperatively requires her children to un- 
derstand Mark xiii. 32 in some very unobvious 
sense. But is there anything in this either un- 
reasonable or irreverent ? God surely has the 
right to interpret His own word ; for you 
would not deny this right to an ordinary mor- 
tal. Indeed, Catholics always maintain very 



on its own foundations ; and immovable in this sense, that all its parts 
are maintained [in their mutual relations] notwithstanding the partic- 
ular movements which take place on its surface and in its bosom .... 
Although our globe has two movements, the diurnal and annual, it 
subsists with all its parts wdthout deflecting from the path wdiich the 
Creator has assigned to it," Not an obvious paraphrase surely ! 



378 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

truly against Protestants, that in several cases 
most serious error would be introduced, if 
Scripture were understood in some obvious 
sense, contrariwise to tlie Church's exposition. 
Now, the certainty of a scientific demonstration, 
tliough of a lower order than the certainty of 
faith, still is absolute ; and the demonstration, 
therefore, of Copernicanism should be reason- 
ably taken as God's authoritative explanation of 
His own language. 

But on the other hand, if a private individual 
may ascribe to any text of Scripture any un- 
obvious sense he pleases — not in deference to 
some definite, tangible, objective rule, proved 
to be reasonable — but according to his indi- 
vidual bias and caprice, the same result would 
practically follow as from an actual denial of 
inspiration. We shall see immediately that in 
Galileo's time 'Copernicanism was ^'scientifically 
unlikely." if, on the strength of a theory 
scientifically unlikely, men are at liberty to 
contradict Scriptural texts as understood in that 
sense, which is both the only obvious one and 
also the one hitherto heard of in the Church, — 
what single text is safe ? What is the difference 
of result, between openly denying the authority 
of Scripture in general, and explaining away 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVEKTS. 379 

every text one dislikes in particular ? Such 
conduct is a very grave offence against faith ; 
and it is the Holy Father's duty to put it down 
with a strong hand. 

'^The prevaiHng opinion in the Catholic 
Church as to what Scripture says on matters " 
appertaining to faith and morals, ^'cannot be 
false, for it embodies the teaching of the au- 
thorized exponent of Scripture. But it has 
never been denied, that the common opinion of 
what is asserted in Scripture on other points, — 
such as belong, e, ^., to the physical history of 
the universe — may be mistaken, and may be 
corrected and improved from time to time, by the 
progress of science and the discoveries of 
history." ^ 

The providence of God will, of course, se- 
cure that no Papal decision, claiming infallibil- 
ity, contains false doctrine. Now PaulV. un- 
doubtedly united with the Congregation of the 
Index in solemnly declaring that Copernican- 
ism is contrary to Scripture. But we shall 
presently see it to be beyond the possibility of 
question, that this was issued as a doctrinal de- 



* Dublin Review for October, 1863, p. 527. This passage was not 
written by the present author. 



380 CONQUESTS OP OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

cree of the Congregation, and not as the Holy 
Father's infallible teaching. 

Even before th.is decree, every Catholic was 
under the obligation of interiorly dissenting 
from Copernicanism. This is evident from 
what has been said. He was under the obli- 
gation of not disbelieving various texts of 
Scripture, in their one obvious sense, in tlie one 
sense hitherto universally received, when ho 
had no warrant for such disbelief, except a 
theory which, even scientifically, was unlikely. 
The Congregational decree added to the obli- 
gation in two ways. It emphatically and ur- 
gently impressed on his mind the obligation 
which otherwise existed; and, secondly, from 
that time forward, the recognition of such obli- 
gation no longer depended on his own personal 
judgment, but on the authority of the Holy 
See and of its most trusted advisers. Although 
he well knew that this judgment, in the shape 
in which it was given, was not strictly infallible, 
yet he also knew that, on a matter of Scriptural 
exposition, these authorities were immeasur- 
ably more likely to be right than a private in- 
dividual. 

But scientific truth cannot really be opposed 
to theological ; and the Church could not right- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 381 

ly issue any command, which should prevent a 
full and searching scientific investigation of the 
Copernican hypothesis. 

In addition to these theological principles, 
there are three scientific statements to which 
we beg the reader's attention. 

It is the business of a scientific man to pur- 
sue truth by scientific methods. One very chief 
scientific method is the invention of ^'hypo- 
theses." No one, indeed, has a right to regard 
these hypotheses, while remaining such, as true 
or probable ; yet they are most serviceable to 
science. It is found that some imagined pro- 
perty of nature; if it were but true, would 
account for a variety of phenomena between 
which no bond of connection has hitherto been 
discovered ; or that some imagined physical 
law would be a far simpler explanation of cer- 
tain multitudinous facts, than is any hitherto 
known. It would be monstrous to infer at once, 
merely from this, that the imagined property 
or law probably exists ; yet the discovery is a 
most important service to science, as a clue to 
the ascertainment of fresh truths. When Co- 
pernicus found that his hypothesis afi'orded a far 
simpler explanation than any hitherto devised, 
for the motions of the heavenly bodies, he had 



382 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

every reason to rejoice in his invention, asbenig' 
not improbably the herald of some eventful 
and critical era in astronomical investigation. 
But if, without any positive proof, he regarded 
his hypothesis as a probable truth, he was no 
less gravely censurable on scientific grounds 
than on theological. 

We insist on the proposition, that simplicity 
is no proof of truth. A certain hypothesis ex- 
plains various phenomena far more simply than 
they had hitherto been explained. This argu- 
ment, under the most favorable circumstances, 
can never by possibility amount to a proof that 
the hypothesis is true. There is no imaginable 
link between premises and conclusion, except 
by subsuming the further premise, that God 
always acts by the most simple means ; but this 
premise not only has never been proved, but is 
pretty obviously false.* 

But in Copernicus', or even Galileo's time, 
this argument hardly furnished a presumption, 



* " We know well that nature in many of its operations works by 
means of a complexity so extreme as to be almost an insuperable obsta- 
cle to our investigations. 

'* The Sabean theory [/. e, the theory of a non-omnipotent Creator] 
is the only one by which the assertion that nature works by the sim- 
plest means can be made consistent with known fact. Even so it 
remains wholly unproved." — Mill on Hamilton, c. 24. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVEETS. 383 

much less did it establish a likelihood. The ar- 
gument from simplicity may be thus stated at 
its greatest advantage. Let it be granted that 
some hypothesis, very far simpler than any 
hitherto devised on the same object matter, 
accounts for all the phenomena now known ; 
let us further suppose that, by assuming it freely 
and energetically during a series of years, men 
find that it would account for a constantly in- 
creasing number of phenomena, between which 
no connection has hitherto been observed ; while, 
on the other hand, through all this time it has 
landed the inquirer in no conclusion antagonistic 
to known facts. We will not deny that from 
such circumstances there ensues a considerable 
scientific likelihood of its truth. But in Galileo's 
time there was no such reason whatever for 
counting the simplicity of Copernicanism as a 
reason for its truth. From the time, indeed, of 
Copernicus to that of Galileo himself, it did not 
account even for known phenomena: on the 
contrary, the fact that a stone when thrown up 
falls down on the spot from wliich it is thrown, 
could he explained on the old system^ but could not 
be explained on the new.^ Galileo invented a 



* " The strength of the anti-Copernicans lay in this, their unanswer- 
able argument of the throwing up a stone. Both parties believed that 



384 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

mechanical doctrine which solved this particular 
difficulty ; and let us grant for argument's sake 
(ivhich is not entirely true, as we shall see), that 
from this time the theory(so to speak) started 
fair ; that it comprehended all the known facts. 
It was possible, no doubt, that subsequent years 
would carry it through the brilliant and trium- 
phant career, on which we can now look back : 
but there was then really no grounds for even 
surmising this ; there was no grounds for even 
surmising that it might not lead legitimately 
to one or a thousand conclusions which would 
be contradictory of undeniable phenomena. For 
centuries the rival theory had been found con- 
sistent with every new ascertained phenomenon. 
In Gralileo's time Copernicanism was in this 
respect just entering on its trial. 

It seems to us, indeed, that in Gralileo's time 
the Gopernican argument, founded on the sim- 
plicity of that theory, was much on a par with 



the stone of itself would follow the motion ot the earth ; at least, such 
was the opinion until tJie Galilean philosophy was fully received. '* — 
Motion of the Earth, p. 458. 

"In the sixteenth century the wit of man c >uld not imagine how, if 
the earth moved, a stone thrown directly upwards would tumble down 
upon the spot it was thrown from. . . . The advocates of the 
earth's motion, before the time of Galileo, never even conceived " the 
law which explains this ; *'and, of course, never proved it."— De 
Morgan, Notes on the Anti-Galilean Copernicans," p. 22. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 385 

the anti-Copernican argument founded on the 
evidences of men's senses. Both arguments 
professedly appeal to the reason, while really 
they appeal merely to tlie imagination. "^ Can 
we fancy/' asked the Copei'nicans, '' that God 
has not acted on a scheme so impressive and so 
beautiful as ours ? " '' Can we fancy," replied 
their opponents, ^^that this earth is constant- 
ly in motion, which we feel to be the stablest 
of all things ? that our senses are given to de- 
ceive IIS ? that during great part of our lives 
we cHng to the earth with our head down- 
wards? " The reply to both arguments is the 
same. On such questions we have no means 
whatever of arguing what God is likely to do : 
it is a matter for evidence, as to what He has in 
fact done. 

So valueless in Galileo's time was the mere 
argument from simplicity. Before his time, in- 
deed, it is not too much to say that the Coper- 
nican tlieory was a mere guess, a mere conjec- 
ture. Listen to the chief arguments cited on both 
sides before Gahleo's discovery of Jupiter's 
satellites. We quote from De Morgan's '' Mo- 
tion of the Earth," using the letter C. for the 
Copernican argument, and the letter P. for the 
Ptolemaist opposed to them. 



386 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

C. contended generally for the greater sim- 
plicity of their system and the incredibility of 
the enormous velocity which the sphere of 
the fixed stars must have if the Ptolemaic 
hypothesis were true : to which it was an- 
swered : P. That God doeth wonders v/ithout 
number. C. That the earth would corrupt and 
putrefy without motion^ whereas the heavens are 
incorruptible. P. That wind would give suf- 
ficient motion. C. That the most movable part of 
man is underneath, since he walks wnth his feet; 
whence the most unworthy part of the universe, 
the earth, should be movable. P. [in addition 
to a good answer] That if the earth moves, 
the head of man moves farther than liis feet. 
C. That rest is nobler than motion, and, there- 
fore, ought to belong to the sun, the nobler 
body. P. That for the same reason the moon 
and all the planets ought to rest. C. That the 
lamp of the world ought to he in the centre. P. 
That a lamp is frequently hung up from a roof 
to enlighten the floor. — P. 47. 

And such were the arguments of which it 
has been gravely contended that they would 
justify Catholics in disbelieving the obvious 
and traditional sense of Grod's Written Word ! 
No doubt, Galileo considerably improved the 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 387 

scientific aspect of Lis cause ; but what was it 
even in his time ? It is thus summed up in an 
extremely able and fair paper in the Ramhler 
(January, 1852). The writer quotes Delambre 
as his authority : 

*' The Ptolemaic theory had sufficed for cen- 
turies to explain and to account for all the ob- 
served motions of the planets, as logically and 
as precisely as the Copernican theory does now ; 
and it was during all this time found capable of 
taking in and preserving all the exact knowl- 
edge of the world. Such being the state of the 
case ... a new system suddenly makes its ap- 
pearance, and claims to supersede the old ; and 
on what grounds ? Because it accounted for 
phenomena in a more simple way than the old 
theory. But then the old theory did account 
for phenomena, however complex it might have 
been, and simplicity is not always an infallible 
test of truth. Again, it was in analogy with the 
newly-discovered system of Jupiter's satellites, 
and accounted for the moonlike phases of Ven- 
us which the telescope revealed. And these 
three points constituted about the ivhole proof which 
Galileo could bring fonvard. His other argu- 
ments, from the tides and magnetism of the 
earth, are all moonshine. The Newtonian 



388 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

tlieory of gravitation was then unknown ; and 
the periods of the revolutions of the planets ap- 
peared quite as disconnected and random, as 
did the cycles and epicycles of the old theory. 
Newton first explained the one law on which 
the revolutions depended ; before his time there 
was nothing to make the Copernican system more 
plausible and reasonable than the Ptolemaie theory. 
The modern demonstrations of the annual motion of 
the earthy — namely, the micrometrical observa- 
tions on the discs of the bodies of the solar sys- 
tem, and especially the great discovery of the 
aberration of light, by which that motion is 
made evident to the senses, — ivere thenunknown; 
and as to the diurnal motion, it was unproved 
till Richer's voyage to Cayenne, where he was 
obliged to shorten his pendulum. And it is 
only within the last few months that an experi- 
ment has been devised by which this motion 
may b^ exhibited to the senses, namely, by the 
apparent revolution of the plane of the vibra- 
tion of a pendulum fixed over a horizontal table. 
Before these demonstrations^ there was no solid 
reason to induce men to disbelieve the evidence of 
their senses. The most decided Copernicans were 
reduced to mere probabilities^ and were obliged to 
confine themselves to preaching up the sim- 



TESTIMONIALS OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 389 

plicity of the Copernican system, as compared 
with the absm^d complexity of that of Ptolemy.^ 
It is now generally taken for granted that 
t]]e Copernican theory is self-evident. So far 
from that being the case, we may safely affirm 
that, %ip to Galileans time, the balance of proof 
tvas in favor of the old system ; that is, the old 
system was at that time the probable one, and 
Copernicus' theory the improbable one." (pp. 
15, 16). 

But, fairly and temperately as this writer ex- 
presses himself, it would seem, nevertheless, 
that he states Galileo's scientific status at some- 
what greater advantage than truth will warrant. 
M. Artaud, m his ^' History of the Sovereign 
Pontiffs " (Vol. v., pp. 316-321), draws atten- 
tion to a paper contributed by M. Leon Des- 
douits, a Catholic savant, to the Univers Cath- 
clique of March, 1841. The gravity of the air, 
M. Desdouits reminds his readers, was first dis- 
covered by Torricelli after Galileo's death. The 
Florentine philosopher, therefore, from igno- 
rance of this fundamental truth, was in an in- 
extricable difficulty. To say that the earth is 
whirled through the terrestrial air, was plainly 



* Delambre, Astron. Mod. Discours prel. 



390 C0NQUE8TS OP OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

inconsistent with phenomena; while yet he 
could give no sufficient reason for supposing 
that the earth carries the air vvitli it in its revo- 
lution. He was unable, therefore, to complete 
a theory of liis own, which he could even recon- 
cile witli known facts ; and since his opponents 
had no difficulty whatever in so reconciling 
theirs, it is not too much to say that his hypo- 
thesis, in its then incomplete state, was, 
'' scientifically unlikely " — i. 6., that there were 
stronger grounds for rejecting than for accept- 
ing it. 

Lastly, we should not fail to point out that 
the particular argument on which he laid his 
greatest stress, is admitted by every one nowa- 
days to have been absolutely valueless and 
irrelevant. We allude to that whicli lie at- 
tempted to draw from the flux and I'eflux of 
tides. His own confidence, therefore, in the 
scientific strength of his position, is no kind of 
argument for its strengtli. ^ 

Dr. William George Ward. 
The Authority of Doctrinal Decisions tvhich 
are not Definitions of Faith, 



* If among any Protestants there still lingers the belief that Galileo 
was toituied or otherwise cruelly treated, we may refer him to Dr. 
Madden's work for the most complete refutation of such calumnies. 



INFALLIBILITY. 



In every age the world has seen living' ex- 
ponents and heralds of God's revelation. Pa- 
triarchs and prophets have in their turn received 
and handed on the heavenly message. A pe- 
culiar people, chosen among the nations of the 
earth, was for many centuries the shrine and 
tabernacle of revealed truth. At length, when 
four thousand years had passed away, and man 
had proved by sad experience the depths of 
his ignorance and blindness, '' the charity of 
God appeared towards us," I. John iv. 9, in 
that He sent us down from heaven His " only 
begotten Son, full of grace and truth," John i. 
14, to be our teacher. He came, at His 
Father's bidding, the Uncreated Truth, the 
Word incarnate ; and the burden of His teach- 
ing was: ^' I am the way, and the truth, and 
the life," John 14. 6 ; '' For this cause came I 
into the world that I should bear testimony to 
the truth," John xviii. 37 ; ^^ If you continue in 
My word, you shall know the truth, and the 
truth shall set you free," John viii. 32. His 



392 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

mission was to be Himself our light. In Him, 
as members of '' Plis body which is the Church," 
Col. i. 24, we were to receive back again the 
fulness of that truth of whicli sin had robbed 
us. The power to discern the infallible truth 
from error, which we forfeited in Adam, was to 
be once more ours ; only in a new way, not 
by an interior inability to mistake falsehood 
for truth, but by the perpetual presence of an 
infallible teacher. These were ^' the good tid- 
ings of great joy," whicli the angel announced 
at Bethlehem, and tlms was the prophecy of 
Isaias brought to pass : '' The people that sat in 
darkness hath seen great light, and to them 
tliat sat in the region of tlie shadow of death 
light is sprung up." Matt. iv. 16. 

So long as Jesus remained on earth. He 
Himself in His own person filled this office of 
teacher towards His disciples. But when the 
time came for Him to depart hence, it was nec- 
essary that He should provide us with another 
teacher, to act as His representative, and to 
teach us in His name and with His authority. 
To this end He set up His Church, that it 
might be, until His return, '' the pillar and the 
ground of the truth," I. Tim. iii. 15, and He 
'^ built it upon the foundation of the Apostles 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 393 

and prophets," He Himself being* its '' chief 
corner stone/' Eph. ii. 20. To the Church's 
guardianship He intrusted " the deposit " of the 
faith, I. Tim. vi. 20, that body of truth which 
He had come down from heaven to reveal. 
And He bade all who owned Him for their 
master '' to hear the Church " in what she 
taught, under pain, if disobedient, of being 
regarded by their brethren '' as the heathen 
and the publican," Matt, xviii. 17. 

For eighteen hundred years the Church has 
faithfully fulfilled her mission as the witness 
and teacher of the truth. Never once durinor* 
this long period has her voice faltered or her 
testimony varied. No sophisms of error have 
perplexed her. No power of earth has over- 
awed her. No assaults from within or from 
without have ever made her waver. No emer- 
gencies but liave found her equal to them. 
All things have changed aroimd her, but she 
remains unchanged. Calm in the conscious- 
ness of her infallibility, as one whose eyes are 
ever gazing on eternal things and whose ears 
are ever open to the harmonies of heaven, 
she has never ceased ^^to preach the word, be- 
ing instant in season and out of season, reprov- 
ing, entreating, rebuking in all patience and 



394 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

doctrine," 11. Tim. iv. 2. From her lips, as 
from a fountain whose som^ce is in the throne 
of God, words of trutli have ever flowed. No 
one has sought guidance from her in vain. 
No one following her has gone astray. Hence 
the devotion which her children feel towards 
her. Hence the hatred with which God's ene- 
mies, be they men or devils, pursue her. 

The Church, then, is our living, ever-present, 
infallible teacher, charged by our Lord Him- 
self to teach us in His name, and with His 
authority, all things necessary to our eternal 
salvation. 

What is meant by the word infallible, when 
we speak of the Church as our infallible teach- 
er? This is the first question we have to con- 
sider ; and the answer is so obvious that we 
almost need to apologize for dwelling upon it. 

To be infallible, in the ordinary acceptation 
of the word, is simply to be exempt from the 
liability to err. When, then, we say that God 
has made His Church infallible in her capac- 
ity of teacher, w^e mean that He has promised 
to secure her, as often as she teaches, from the 
possibility of declaring error to be truth and 
truth error. The way in which He effects this 
is by His supernatural providence, and the ex- 



TESTIMONIES OP DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 395 

terior guidance of His Holy Spirit. And from 
tliis point of view, infallibility is to be distin- 
guished from the gift of inspiration. The in- 
fallible teacher, as such, receives no interior 
revelations or suggestions from God. The 
Holy Ghost does not dictate to him what to 
say. It is only his external utterances which 
are overruled, so that he cannot, in his official 
character, teach the faithful anything at variance 
with the truth. This distinction between in- 
fallibility and inspiration is a sufficient answer 
to those who object to the infallibility of the 
sovereign Pontiff, that if he is infallible he must 
be inspired, which no theologian of any school 
ever asserted that he was. 

Equally groundless is another argument 
brought against the Pope's infallibility, — that 
this gift necessarily implies sinlessness in its 
possessor, and since the Popes are not sinless, 
they cannot be infallible. This objection rests 
partly on the misuse of the word infallibility 
for impeccability, just as if they were equiv- 
alent in meaning, and partly on the assumption 
that God could not with propriety guarantee 
from error in teaching one who, at the very 
time he taught, was, perchance, in sin, and 
therefore God's open enemy. Nevertheless, 



396 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

the whole history of Grod's dealings with us in 
the order of grace is a witness to the ground- 
lessness of this assumption. Even the least in- 
structed Catholic knows well that sin in God's 
ministers is no bar to their being His instru- 
ments in the conveyance of grace to others. 
Every mass he hears, and every sacrament he 
receives, reminds him of this elementary truth. 
Thus the very analogy of the faith prepares us 
to expect that a state of grace is not a neces- 
sary condition that the divinely-appointed teach- 
er may teach infallibly. Moreover, the Holy 
Scripture furnishes us with instances of the 
higher gift of inspiration being exercised by 
sinners, even when they were in the act of of- 
fending God. The prophet Balaam, moved by 
covetousness, sought three distinct times to 
pronounce a solemn curse upon Israel, but in 
vain, for he had '' no power to speak any other 
than that w^hich God put into liis mouth," Num- 
bers xxii. 38. And when Caiaphas told the 
Jews who were plotting our Lord's death, that 
they '' knew nothing, and did not consider that 
it was expedient for them that one man should 
die for the people, and that the whole nation 
perish not," the Evangelist remarks on this, that 
*4ie spoke not of himself, but, being the high 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 397 

priestoftliat year, prophesied that Jesus should 
die for the nation ; and not only for the nation, 
but to gather together in one the children of 
God that are dispersed," John xi. 49-52. If, 
then, the higher gift of inspiration is indepen- 
dent of sanctity in its possessor, how much 
more the lower and external gift of infallibil- 
ity. In truth, these objections rest upon a 
half-conscious assumption that the Church's 
infallibility is the result of the wisdom, holi- 
ness, and prudence of her rulers, and is there- 
fore at the bottom a purely natural endow- 
ment; whereas, on the contrary, the sole 
grounds of her inability to teach error is to be 
sought in the supernatural assistance and over- 
ruling guidance of the Holy Grhost, which her 
Divine Founder promised to her. 

Rev. Thomas Fkancis Knox, 
When Does the Church Speak Infallibly f 



THE CONVERSION OF THE VEN- 
ERABLE ABB6 LIBERMANN. 



I was about twenty years of age, when it 
pleased Grod to begin the work of my conver- 
sion. Until then, I had studied the Talmud 
under the direction of my father, who was a 
distinguished Rabbin. He was pleased w^ith 
my progress, and flattered himself with the 
thought that I would one day be the worthy 
inheritor of his office, his science, and the high 
esteem in which he was held by his co-reli- 
gionists. About the period of which I speak, 
he determined to send me to Metz to complete 
my studies. His object in doing so was less 
the acquisition of a science, which I could as 
well have learned from him, than to give me 
an occasion for displaying my knowledge and 
my talents, and to render me eminent amongst 
the rabbins, who came in great numbers to be 
instructed in this town. He gave me letters of 
introduction for two professors of the Israelitic 
school, one of whom had been his pupil, and 
the other his friend. It was then that the mer- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 399 

ciful design of Providence began to make it- 
self felt in my regard. God, who wished to 
draw me from the error in which I was 
plunged, disposed my heart, by causing me to 
meet with disappointments and ill-treatment 
which I had by no means expected. 

Until then I had lived in Judaism in good 
faith, without in the least suspecting that I 
was in error ; but about that time I fell into a 
kind of religious indifference, which, in a few 
months, brought me to a state of utter infidelity. 

I had a friend who shared my views with 
regard to religion. I saw him often. Our 
studies and our walks were almost in common. 
He advised me to go to Paris, to M. Drach,^ 
who was already converted, and to examine 
seriously what I was to do, before taking on 
myself the obligations of the rabbinic profes- 
sion. I fully agreed to this proposition. But 
I should have my father's approval, and this 
was no easy thing to obtain. To write to him 
about my projects would have been the surest 
means of frustrating them. I therefore de- 
cided on going to settle matters orally. I ar- 

* This illustrious convert from Judaism has left a great name in 
the world of letters by his many valuable works on the Oriental 

languages. 



400 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

rived at Saverne very fatigued, having made 
the journey on foot. My father allowed me a 
little rest, before speaking to me of his fears ; 
but before the end of the day he sent for me. 
He wished, without further delay, to clear up 
his doubts. There was an easy means at his 
disposal ; he had only to question me on my 
studies, and, in particular, on the ^'Talmud.^^ 
My answers would be the surest test of my 
application. He knew well that there is no 
possibility of imposing on a master in a sub- 
ject which demands so much labor, memory, 
talent, and practice, as the study of the '^ Tal- 
mud." This work, thougli not beyond the 
stretch of an ordinary mind, requires an acute 
and ready intelligence to be accurately ren- 
dered, and properly explained. Only those 
who have studied its contents long and recent- 
ly, could ever be able to interpret them with 
that facility which characterizes the true Tal- 
mudists. 

My father was of their number ; and in ten 
minutes all his suspicions in my regard would 
have been changed into sad realities, had not 
the Almighty, who wished to bring about my 
conversion, hastened to my assistance, almost 
miraculously. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 401 

The first of my father's question was precise- 
ly one on which it is impossible to pass with- 
out showing the exact state of one's knowl- 
edge. For two years, I had almost entirely 
neglected the study of the Talmud, and what 
I knew I had learned with dislike, having 
read it as one who only wishes to save appear- 
ances. However, I had scarcely heard the 
question, when an abundant light illumined 
my mind, and showed me all that I should 
say. 

I was myself in the greatest astonishment ; 
I could not account for such facility in explain- 
ing things which I had hardly read. I mar- 
velled exceedingly, at seeing the vivacity and 
promptitude with which my mind seized upon 
all that was obscure and enigmatical in the 
passage which was about to decide my jour- 
ney. But my father was still more amazed 
than myself; he was overwhelmed with joy 
and happiness, as he found that I was still 
worthy of him, and that his fears and the un- 
favorable suspicions which had been put into 
his mind concerning me were entirely ground- 
less. He embraced me tenderly, and bathed 
my face with his tears: ^' I truly had my 
suspicions," he said, " that they were again cal- 



402 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

Hmniating you, when they accused you of 
spendmg ^^our time in studying Latin, and 
neglecting to acc^uire the knowledge necessary 
for your profession." 

Permission to go to Paris was soon after- 
wards granted ; and, despite the warnings he 
received that I was going to join my brothers, 
and do as they had done, he could not believe 
such a thing. He gave me a letter for the Rab- 
bin Deutz (the father of the Deutz who be- 
trayed the Duchess of Berry) ; but, as from 
another quarter I was recommended to M. 
Drach, I addressed myself to him. However, 
some time afterwards, I delivered my letter to 
M. Deutz ; I even, by way of formality, asked 
him for a book, which I returned soon after, 
and then visited him no more. 

I spent a few days with my brother, and I 
was greatly surprised at his happiness I was, 
however, still very far from being changed and 
cariverted. M. Drach found a place for me at 
the College Stanislaus^ whither he conducted rpe 
himself. I was led into a cell, and there left 
alone, with two works by Lhomond^ the ^' His- 
tory of the Christian Doctrine," and the ^' His- 
tory of Religion." This was for me a most 
trying moment. The profound solitude, the 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 403 

appearance of that room admitting the light 
through a small window in the roof, the 
thought of being so far from home, from my 
parents and acquaintances, all tended to plunge 
my soul into intense sadness. My heart was 
oppressed with the most awful melancholy. 

Then it was, that, remembering the God of 
my fathers, I threw myself on my knees, and 
conjured Him to enlighten me in my search 
after the true religion. I besought Him, if 
the faith of the Christians was the true one, to 
make it known to me ; but, if it was false, to 
remove me at once beyond the reach of its in- 
fluence. 

The Lord, ever near to those who invoke 
Him from the inmost depths of their hearts, 
heard my prayer. I was immediately enlight- 
ened : 1 saw the truth; faith penetrated my 
mind and heart. Having commenced the 
reading of Lhomond, I easily and firmly ad- 
hered to all that is related therein about the 
life and death of Jesus Christ. I believed all 
without difficulty. From that moment, my 
most ardent desire was to be regenerated in the 
sacred waters of Baptism, That happiness was 
soon granted to me. I was immediately pre- 
pared for this august sacrament, which I re- 



404 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

ceived on Christmas-eve, 1826. On this fes- 
tival I was likewise admitted to partake of the 
Blessed Eucharist. 

I cannot sufficiently admire the marvellous 
change which took place in me, at the moment 
the water of Baptism was poured upon my 
forehead. I became truly a new man. All my 
doubts and fears disappeared in an instant. 
The ecclesiastical costume, for which I still felt 
something of that extraordinary repugnance 
which is characteristic of the Jewish nation, no 
longer appeared to me under the same aspect. 
I now felt for it a sentiment of love rather than 
one of fear. But, above all, I felt an invincible 
strength and courage to practise the Christian 
Law. I experienced a sort of new affection 
for everything connected with my new belief. 

'^ On leaving the baptismal font," says Mr. 
Drach, '' the pious neophyte promised the Lord 
to consecrate himself to His service in the sacred 
ministry.'^ 

My entrance into the Seminary of Saint-Sul- 
pice was for me an epoch of joy and blessings. 
The Abbe George, afterwards Bishop of Peri- 
gueux, was appointed my Good Angel The 
great charity with which he fulfilled his func- 
tions edified me extremely^ and caused me to 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 405 

love more and more a religion which inspires 
such sweet and wonderful sentiments.^ 



* Life of the Venerable Francis Mary Paul Liberman, Founder of the 
Congregation of the Holy Heart of Mary, and First Superior-General of 
the Society of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Heart of Mary, By Rev. 
Prosper Goepfert. 



THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIG- 
IOUS INSTITUTIONS IN FRANCE. 



In the midst of the stupid insults and injuries 
with which the Church is constantly assailed, 
her beneficent mission remains ever attested by 
one note at least to which men of good-will 
cannot remain permanently insensible. Like 
her Divine Lord, she, '' goes about doing 
good." She has her higher as well as her lower 
office ; and while slie preaches a kingdom which 
is not of this world, she also does what this 
world vainly attempts to do, in the way of al- 
leviating the calamities that afflict our temporal 
state. Banished from the thrones of out- 
ward dominion, she is still to be found in the 
prisons and the hospitals. Her consolation, 
when no longer allowed to guide the soul, is 
to heal the sick body of those who, in their 
delirium, cannot refrain from striking at her 
who would soothe their pains. As children 
come back in sickness to be tended by a mother, 
whom, in the intoxication of health and strength, 
they had neglected or injured ; so nations, after 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 407 

the storm of revolution has swept by, return to 
have their wounds dressed by her in maHgning 
whom they once delighted. Of this fact revo- 
lutionary France has been a conspicuous exam- 
ple. Amid the wreck of her old institutions, 
the noblest of her triumphs was, as she deemed 
in the hour of madness, her victory over the 
Church. But it was in vain that she strug- 
gled to escape from the charmed circle of 
Grace and Providence. Afflictions, sent in 
mercy, have brought her back to the religious 
institutions originally accorded in mercy. It 
has been well said, that the Sisters of Charity 
have been the chief instruments in winning 
back France to Christianity. An army of 
women conquered an army of revolutionists ; 
and the vocations of helpless children proved 
stronger than the decrees of constituent 
assemblies. It was possible to dethrone reli- 
gion ; but the painted courtesan who was borne 
along in a triumphal car as the goddess of Reason 
proved unable to act as a substitute. It was pos- 
sible to deny the mysteries of theFaith, but 
impossible to repel sorrow, disease, and care by 
windy phrases. The sighs of the prisoners in 
the dungeons, and the groans of sufferers in 
hospitals were the refutation (where none 



408 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

would listen to argument) of declamations an- 
nouncing the millennium of self-will and the 
gospel of empirical science. It has been with 
the mind of France as with the body. The 
disease of ignorance needed a cure as well as 
other diseases ; and the mere secular treatment 
of that disease turned out, on experience, to be 
but quackery. Polytechnic schools without 
religion might do many ingenious and surprising 
things ; but they could not lay a foundation for 
social order, prevent the necessity of a new rev- 
olution every dozen years, or provide an enligli- 
tened nation with as much discretion as is needed 
to hinder it from cutting its own throat. Edu- 
cation, as well as the relief of temporal distresses, 
has accordingly in France been obliged to re- 
nounce its pompous but barren pretensions ; and 
to take an humbler place — but one which enables 
it to do its work among the corporal '' works of 
mercy." The religious institutions or associations 
devoted to man's outward condition, to be found 
in Paris alone, amount to between seventy and 
eighty, different in kind; and to a far larger 
number, if we reckon the various institutions 
classed in several cases under the same general 
name. The perusal of the list would astonish 
those who know of Paris little more than is to 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 409 

be picked up in cafes and theatres. Notre Dame, 
with all that it represents, is as much ^fact as 
the Palais Royal, with that world of which it is 
the centre. In that great city, which the 
powers of good and evil have so often chosen 
as the chief arena of their conflict, there exist 
the extremes of virtue and vice, — each devel- 
oped to the uttermost, as might have been ex- 
pected, by the pressure of its opposite. The 
superficial or prejudiced traveller sees in Paris 
nothing but the Paradise of the senses and the 
temple of vanity; those who are initiated into 
its deeper life might be tempted, if they re- 
stricted their attention to one aspect of the ques- 
tion, to pronounce Paris a city of saints. 
Enough has been already done to indicate to 
all except the fanatics of the revolution, where 
it is that the hope of France lies. 

Aubrey De Vere, 
Heroines of Charity, 



THE DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED 

VIRaiN IN THE EARLY AGES 

OF THE CHURCH. 



Not merely do the writings of the fathers 
lay down those dogmas of faith which form the 
root and groundwork of our devotion to the 
Blessed Virgin, but history and tradition reveal 
to us the devotion itself as practised even in tlie 
desert and in the catacombs. However far we 
travel back, we are met by facts and legends 
attesting the universal belief in the power of 
Our Lady's intercession, and this power is 
represented as often miraculously displayed. 
The annals of the Eastern Empire are as rich 
in such narratives as those of Western Chris- 
tendom. 

St. Ephrem, the doctor of Edessa, whose 
hymns, but recently brought to light,* bear 
witness to his belief in the Immaculate Concep- 
tion ; whose writings contain the actual words 
of so many of our devotions, such as the Siib 



* See the Carmina Nisibena, published in 1866, from a MS. in the 
British Museum. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 411 

tuuni prcesidliim, and the well-known versicle, 
Dignare me landare te, Virgo sacrata; who sa- 
lutes Our Lady as his queen, his sovereign, his 
life, his light, his hope, and his refuge, holding 
the second place next to the Divinity, the Me- 
diatrix of tlie whole human race ; and who in 
his terrible sermon on the last judgment paints 
to us the separation of the just from the wicked, 
and places in the mouths of sinners that doleful 
cry: '^Farewell, ye saints and servants of 
God ; farewell parents, farewell children, fare- 
well prophets, apostles, and martyrs, fareivell 
Lacly^ Mother of God; you have prayed much 
for us, that we might be saved, but we would 
not !" And the author of these words died in 
378, and was the son of parents who had con- 
fessed the faith in the persecution of Diocletian. 
Such a witness brings this devotion very close 
to the age of martjn-dom ; but in the person of 
St. Methodius of Tyre we have one who was a 
martyr himself. St. Methodius does not merely 
write of the Blessed Virgin, but he addresses 
her in the language of invocation. And it is he 
who appeals in support of this devotion to the 
example of Our Lord Himself : "' We all owe 
debts to God,'' he says, '^but to Thee He Him- 
self is indebted who has said, honor thy father 



412 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

and thy mother. And that He miglit fulfil His 
own law, and exceed all men in its observance^ 
He paid all honor and grace to His own mother."^ 
St. Methodius sufi'ered martyrdom at Chalcis 
during the last persecution, about the year 312. 
In the reign of St. Sylvester, the very first 
pope who governed the Church after the period 
of Martyrdom, we find a miraculous incident 
recorded, the cessation, namely, of a terrible 
pestilence, which was attributed to the interces- 
sion of the Blessed Virgin. And in gratitude 
for this favor St. Sylvester (as Baronius relates) 
dedicated 1o her honor in the Roman forum a 
Church known as Libera nos apcenis. This must 
have been before the year 335, which was that 
of St. Sylvester's death. Miraculous graces 
granted to the invocation of Our Lady appear 
both in the authentic lives and the less authentic 
legends belonging to the age of martyrdom. 
Thus the Greek acts of St. Catherine represent 
her as converted to the faith by the sight of a 
picture of the Holy Virgin and her Divine Son, 
and as afterwards presented to Our Lord by 
his Blessed Mother, who entreats Him to accept 

*■ S. Meth. '* Serm, de Sim. et Anna." In this sermon S. Methodiu 
several times bestows on Our Lady the title Theotocus^ the mother of 
God. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 413 

Catherine as his spouse. Then we have the 
legend of the two saints, Julian and Basilissa, 
martyred under Maximin, in 312, who on the 
day of their nuptials consecrated themselves to 
God by a vow of chastity and devoted them- 
selves to the service of the sick, when Jesus and 
Mary visibly appeared to them, surrounded by 
saints and angels, who said aloud, '' Victory to 
thee, Julian, victory to thee, Basilissa !" And 
St. Gregory of Nazianzen relates the history of 
St. Justina, who was delivered from the diabolic 
conspiracy, framed against her by Cyprian the 
magician, on invoking the Blessed Virgin, and 
whose martyrdom took place about the year 
304. 

Earlier still, in 240, we have the celebrated 
vision of St. Greocorv of Thaumaturo us, who, 
as St. Gregor}^ of Nyssa relates, received an 
exposition of the orthodox faith from the dic- 
tation of the Blessed Virgin. And this incident, 
it may be observed, cannot be classed among 
pious legends, but has always been respected 
as absolutely historical. This, perhaps, is the 
very earliest example on record of any appar- 
ition of Our liady, or supernatural grace re- 
ceived from her hands, but is very far from 
taking us back to the earliest proof that is to 



414 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

be found of the devotion rendered to her in the 
Church. The catacombs, which bear witness 
to so many other points of primitive faith, are 
not silent on this matter. The Commendatore 
De Rossi, whose perfect candor and honesty 
no less than his unrivaled ability will be ad- 
mitted by critics of every creed, has published 
a selection in chromo-lithography pf*a few out 
of the numerous pictures of Our Blessed Lady 
which we find in subterranean Rome. 

In the explanatory text with which lie illus- 
trated these paintings, he informs us that 
^' whereas he believes some of them to belong 
almost, if not quite, to the Apostolic age^ there 
are at least a score which cannot be assigned 
to a later date than that of Constantine." 

The latest of those which he has published is 
the well-known figure of Our Blessed Lady 
and the Holy Child in the cemetery of St. 
Agnes, which belongs probably to the middle 
of the fourth century ; another, in the cemetery 
of St. Domitilla, he unhesitatingl}^ assigned 
to the third ; whilst another, from the 
cemetery of St. Priscilla, in which the proph- 
et Isaias stands before her pointing tt) a star 
over her head, he considers to belong to the 
very beginning of the second, if not to the first 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 415 

century. The testimony of these paintings is 
at once ancient and authentic. The legendary 
records of the Churcli. have borne witness 
equally, in every age, to the existence of this 
devotion. Study those records when we will, 
they tell us the same tale, nor will its earlier 
chapter be less supernatural, or, as it may be 
termed, less marvelous, than those of later date. 
Legends, moreover, are not necessaril}^ false 
because they claim less critical evidence than 
history ; and even where they exi libit a certain 
coloring of romance and fiction, they may, 
nevertheless, embody a fact, or convey accurate 
information as to the belief and devotion of the 
age to which they belong. Still more must 
they carry weight when we find tliem strictly 
harmonizing with the teachings of authentic 
narratives. The prejudice which leads us to 
imagine that visions and apparitions of Our 
Lady, and tales of direct interference in human 
affairs, are but the mythical product of Middle 
Age credulity, is startled, to say the least, when 
it encounters precisely similar stories told and 
believed by saints belonging to the first five 
centuries of the Church. 

This harmony of belief is a grave and indis- 
putable fact, for it proves that the devotion of 



416 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH. 

the faithful; like their creed, is in all its main 
features the same now as it was in the begin- 
ning, and as it shall be in ages to come. 

Very Rev. Provost J. Spencer Northcote, 
Celebrated Sanctuaries of the Madonna. 



THE HUGUENOTS. 



Monsieur Peter Victor Cayet was one of 
the most learned and able ministers which our 
Protestants have ever had ; and in that quality 
served Madam Catherine, the King's sister, till, 
about two years after the conversion of that 
great prince, he acknowledged the true Catholic 
religion, and made his solemn abjuration of 
heresy at Paris. He also published the mo- 
tives of his conversion in a learned treatise, 
which was received with great applause, both 
in France and in foreign countries; and his ex- 
ample, fortified with the strong reasons of a 
man so able as he was, to which no solid an- 
swer was ever given, was immediately followed 
by the conversion of a great number of Prot- 
estants, who by his means came to understand 
the falsehood of their religion, pretendedly re- 
formed. 

This action so infinitely nettled his former 
brotherhood of ministers, that they grew out- 
rageous against him. They ran down his rep- 
utation with full cry, and endeavored to 



418 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

blacken it with a thousand horrible calumnies, 
with which they stuffed their libels ; and, 
amongst others, that which they have inserted 
into the memoirs of the League, w^ith the great- 
est villany imaginable, taking no notice of the 
solid and convincing answers he made them. 
Which proceeding of theirs is sufficient to dis- 
cover the falsity of all they have written to 
defame him,' according to the libelling genius 
of presbytery. 

For, of all heretics, none have been more 
cruel, or more foul-mouthed, than the Calvin - 
ists ; none have revenged themselves of their 
pretended enemies more barbarously, either by 
open arms, or private mischiefs, when the 
power was in their hands, or more impudent- 
ly with their pens, and by their libels, when 
they had no other way to show their malice; 
murdering their reputations with all sorts of 
injuries and impostures, who have once de- 
clared themselves against their party. 

In effect, what have they not said to defame 
the memory of Monsieur de Sponde, lieuten- 
ant-general in Rochelle ; of Salette, counsellor 
to the king of Navarre ; of Morlas, counsellor 
of state and superintendent of the magazines of 
France; as also of Du Fay, Clairville, Rohan, 



TESTIMONIES. OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 419 

and a hundred otliers of their most celebrated 
ministers, who, after having been esteemed 
amongst them for good men, and looked on as 
the leaders of tlieir consistory, are, by a strange 
sort of metamorphosis, become, on the sudden, 
profligate wretches, and the most infamous of 
mankind, only for renouncing Calvinism ? By 
how many forgeries and calumnies have they 
endeavored to ruin the repute of all such 
Catholics as have the most vigorously opposed 
their heresy, history will furnish us with abun- 
dant proofs ; and we have but too many in the 
fragments which Monsieur le Laboreur has 
given us of their insolent satires, where they 
spare not the most inviolable and sacred things 
on earth. 

For which reason, that writer, in a certain 
chapter of his book, wherein he mentions but 
a small parcel of those libels, after which he 
has said, '' that the most venomous satirists, 
and the greatest libertines, were those of the 
Huguenot party," adds these memorable words : 
^' I should have been ashamed to have read all 
those libels for the blasphemies and impieties 
with which they are filled, if that very consid- 
eration had not been aiding to confirm me in 
the belief, that there was more wickedness, 



420 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH, 

than either error or blindness, in their doc- 
trine ; and that their morals were more corrupt 
than their opinions." 

John Dryden, 
Introduction to the History of the League. 



THE LAW OF GOD. 



** The law of the Lord is unspotted, convert- 
ing souls ; the testimony of the Lord is faithful, 
giving" wisdom to little ones. The justices of 
the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts; the com- 
mandment of the Lord is lightsome, enlighten- 
ing the ej^es ; the fear of the Lord is holy, 
enduring for ever and ever. The judgments of 
the Lord are true, justified in themselves, 
more to be desired than gold and many pre- 
cious stones, and sweeter than honey and the 
honey comb.''* 

In this and other passages it is remarkable, 
again, how much the light and joy of the soul 
are made to come from obedience, which is, in 
truth, the great condition of enlightenment, 
while the light which it engenders brings 
with it peace and delight in the practice of the 
commandments, as the Psalmist goes on to say, 
^' For Thy servant keepeth them, and in keep- 
ing them there is a great reward." Thus the 



* Psalm xviii. 8-10. 



422 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

consideration of the reward of obedience, asset 
before us by the light of faith, as well as by 
the knowledge wliich our faith supplies to us of 
the character of God and of Our Lord Himself, 
goes far towards making the obedience which 
we practise easy and light. Moreover, the 
keeping of the Commandments brings ever 
fresh grace to the soul, and this is a part of the 
sweetness and lightsomeness and delightfulness 
of which the Psalmist speaks. For a yoke is 
sweet if it is known to be reasonable, if we un- 
derstand that it is put on us out of love, and in 
consideration of our own greatest good, rather 
than for any other motive, and if we are able to 
enter into the beautiful designs of God in for- 
bidding what is hurtful to us and enjoining what 
is, in itself, even apart from His commandment, 
a source of happiness and spiritual strength. 

It is most true that the commandments of the 
Lord are sweet, and that they fully deserve all 
the praises which are given to them in the pas- 
sage from the Psalmist just now quoted. And 
yet it is most true also that we owe an immense 
increase in this sweetness and graciousness of 
the law, as it is set before us, to the personal 
Presence of our Lord among us. It is no long- 
er simply a law, a commandment, a testimony, 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 423 

judgments, justices. Our Lord's invitation is 
not to His law, but to Himself. It is always, 
^'Come unto Me, take My yoke, learn of Me," 
and the like. He has clothed Himself with our 
poor nature for this very purpose, made Him- 
self one of us, and learnt by experience all the 
miseries and difficulties of our condition, and 
by His own touch has made them tolerable. 
The invitation comes to us winged with all 
the intense beauty and attractiveness of the 
Sacred Humanity. The life to which He in- 
vites us is a continual personal intercourse and 
companionship with Himself We are first to 
throw ourselves into the arms of His infinite 
love and compassionateness, and only after that 
are we to take His yoke upon us. All our steps, 
in the way of His service and of our own salva- 
tion, are guided and supported by Him. We 
receive no grace except by communication with 
Him ; the cleansing of our souls is the applica- 
tion of His precious Blood ; the strengthening 
of our spiritual life is the feeding upon Him ; 
the path along which we are to walk has already 
been stamped for us by his footsteps, showing 
us where to plant our own. He is all around 
us in the Church; He lives in us and we in Him ; 
and especially in all matters in which there is 



424 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH. 

something hard, something of tlie Cross to be 
borne, we liave His example and His strength, 
to make tlie burthen as He has promised us it 
shall be. 

Rev. Henry James Coleridge, S. J., 
The Public Life of Our Lord. 



CONVERSION OF THE DUKE OF 
BRUNSWICK. 



For the more perfect discovery of the truth I 
sought after, I resolved to read the most celebrat- 
ed authors of both parties, that I might be able 
to judge how far their doctrine agreed with that 
of the holy fathers of the primitive Church, and 
whether in all points they agreed among them- 
selves. And therefore it was that I perused a 
great many books written by Roman Catholics 
of divers nations, as well Spaniards, Italians, 
Flanders, and English, as Germans, Polanders, 
and Hungarians ; and the issue of this inquiry 
was, that I found a perfect harmony among them 
as to the points of faith, and their deference to 
the ancient Fathers. It was matter of admira- 
tion to me, that their school-men, who widely 
differed in opinion on other subjects, should all, 
as with one voice, profess, maintain, and teach 
the very same as to what concerns the articles 
of faith. I observed the like in the writings of 
the ancient Fathers, though they lived and 
wrote in times and places very distant from one 



426 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

another; as Ignatius and Clirysostom, at An- 
tioch ; Athanasius and Telespliorus, at Alex- 
andria; Maccalous and Cyril, at Jerusalem; 
Proculus, at Constantinople ; Gregory and 
Basil, in Cappadocia ; Justin, at Athens; Den- 
is, at Corinth ; Ephrem, in Syria ; Cyprian, 
Optatus, and Augustine in Africa ; Epiphanus, 
in Cyprus ; Ambrose, in Italy ; Irenseus, in 
France ; Orosius and Isidore, in Spain ; Bede^ 
in England, etc. But when I came to con- 
front the writings of our new reformers 
with the doctrine of the ancient Fathers, I 
found them as opposite as the East and 
West. In the next place I examined what 
harmony these Protestant writers kept among 
themselves ; but I clearly discovered they were 
mightily at jars about points of faith. It is 
not only the Lutherans that quarrel with the 
Calvinists, and Calvinists with the Lutherans, 
and both of them with the Puritans, Arians, 
and Anabaptists ; but even those of the same 
cloth are strangely at variance about their 
faith. — The rigid Calvinists are of one persua- 
sion, and the more moderate, of another. The 
Remonstrants teach one thing, and Anti-remon- 
strants teach the contrary. The Puritans main- 
tain and teach Avhat the Presbvterians will not 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 427 

allow. And as for the Lutherans, some things 
are held to be of faith at Wiirtemberg, others at 
Landsberg", others at Swedeland, others in Hun- 
gary, others in Brandenburg, and others in En- 
gland. Besides that, the Lutherans follow, in 
the age we now live in, a doctrine they were 
strangers to in the foregoing age. They 
thought and believed one thing at the beginning 
of Lutheranism, and another thing in its pro- 
gress. What account then should I be able to 
give at the last day, if to so many great lights 
of the Church I preferred a handful of incon- 
siderable men, who had neither learning nor 
virtue, and, over and above, divided among 
themselves? I therefore judged it best to set 
them all aside, and keep to the Fathers. 

But, though the Holy Fathers had been all 
silent, the very stones and remnants of an- 
tiquity spoke to me, attested and recom- 
mended the truth of the Roman Catholic Faith. 
For, upon taking into consideration the old 
churches, the elections of kings and emperors, 
and the ceremonies used at their coronations, 
the ancient statues of the Caesars and of mon- 
archs, the laws and customs of the most 
ancient universities, the conversion of nations 
to the faith of Christ, the inscriptions cut in 



428 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH. 

marble, tlie histories and annals of all ages 
since the birth of our Redeemer : all the mem- 
orable facts that happened since the first prom- 
ulgation of the Christian Faith, the journals 
and calendars wherein are marked the illus- 
trious actions of the saints and the most sol- 
emn days in the year, which are still kept 
among Protestants themselves: as the Sun- 
days called Quadragesima, Quinquagesima, 
Sexagesima, Septuagesima, Easter, Quasimodo, 
Jubilate, Cantate, Rogate, etc. ; all these 
things gave me clearly to understand that no 
other religion besides the Roman Catholic was 
ever firmly planted in the Christian World. 

Fifty Reasons. 



THE BENEFICENT INFLUENCES OF 
THE CATHOLIC RELIGION. 



Well does the poet represent them (men of 
delicate and susceptible minds), in describing 
Tasso : — 

* * * * from ray very birth 

My soiil was drunk with love, which did pervade 
And mingle with whate'er I saw on earth ; 
Of objects all inanimate I made 
Idols, and out of wild and lonely flowers, 
x\nd rock«, whereby they grew, a paradise, 
Where I did lay me down, within the shade 
Of waving trees, and dreamed uncounted hours ; 
Though I was chid for wandering, and the wise 
Shook their white aged heads o'er me, and said, 
Of such materials wretched men were made, 
And such a truant boy would end in woe, 
And that the only lesson was a blow. * 

They judged rightly ; for they took not into 
account the resources of faith, and they saw, 
that, in a world of incurable disorder^ so in- 
tense a love of what is beautiful and perfect 
must needs, of natural necessity, bring with it 
disappointment and the keen bitter sense of 



* Byron, Lament of Tasso, 



430 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

discord, and the cruel pangs of having to wit- 
ness, and perhaps endure, the triumph of injus- 
tice and wrong. Had they, indeed, looked 
upwards, and conceived the charnri of that sub- 
stance of things not seen ; had they remem- 
bered tlie offers of Eternal Truth, to give rest 
to the wearied spirits that would foilow Him 
who was meek and lowly of heart, that end of 
woe would not have seemed inevitably await- 
ing the object of their solicitude. For oh ! 
what a balm has the Catholic religion provided 
for these eagle spirits, when confined in the 
net of earthly calamity ! Its efi'ects may be 
witnessed by referring to the words which the 
same poet ascribes to Tasso, where he repre- 
sents him afterwards in the dungeon saying, — 

I once was quick in feeling,— that is o'er ; 
My scars are callous, or I should have, dashed 
My brains against these bars, as the sun flashea 
In mockery through them. 

He once was quick in feeling. How much 
is expressed in these few words ! what wounds 
would it display, recent and old, as if inflicted 
by those flames which had already begun to 
prey upon it; tormented, as if by demons, 
whose instruments are every brief and vile 
contingency! *^ But," he adds, ^^ that is over." 
In fact, all is changed, all is j'eversed: he is no 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 431 

longer what he was. No one can tear the im- 
patient answer from his tongue ; no indication 
of neglect, no cruel injustice, no merciless 
wrong, can any more trouble tliat heart ; for it 
has found rest and peace unutterable, peace 
everlasting. That rest has been found by en- 
tering upon the way of the holy cross ; he has 
been taught how to endure, how to sanctify sor- 
row. Objects have been made familiar to him, 
before which he loves to kneel and weep in 
lowly reverence. The passion of his Saviour, 
the crown of thorns, the drink of vinegar and 
gall, — these have taught him what he could 
never have gained from all the consolations of 
philosophy, — these 

Have from the sea of ill-love saved his bark, 
And on the coast secured it of the right, 

teaching him to estimate the value of being 
condemned to suffer bitterness, and yielding 
him in return, for that proud and lofty spirit 
which he renounced, the power of preserving 
his peace while beholding man's unkindness ; 
the power of reducing to a sweet calm that 
once restless and troubled sea of the heart, 
swollen and agitated with a thousand passions; 
nay, even the faculty of convertii g pain and 
misfortune, and the dire events of a calamitous 



432 CONQUESTS OP" OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

life, into images of quiet beauty, on which the 
memory and imagination may dwell, almost 
with a poetic fondness ; for now he can say 
with Lovelace, that 

Stone walls do not a prison make, 

Nor iron bars a cage ; 
Minds innocent and quiet take 

That for a hermitage. 

or apply to himself what Richard Plantagenet 
says of Mortimer: — 

In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage, 
And like a hermit overpass'd thy days. 

Abandoned to nature, the man who is en- 
dowed with a delicate and sentimental soul is 
found to breathe only the vague desires of the 
modern poet, whose ideal may be seen in that 
Burns, of whom we read that '' he has no re- 
ligion ; his heart indeed is alive with a tremb- 
ling adoration, but there is no temple in his 
understanding; he lives in darkness and in the 
shadow of doubt ; his religion, at best, is an 
anxious wish, like that of Rabelais, a great Per- 
haps." ^ The error of the modern poets con- 
sists in their not viewing the visible w^orld in 
union with the mysteries of faith, and in sup- 
posing that a mere description of its external 



* Edinburgh Review, 1828. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 433 

form can satisfy even the thirst after poetic 
beauty, which is inherent in our nature. Dante 
is blamed by them for mixing scholastic theol- 
ogy with his song; but it is precisely their 
Yerj mixture which gives that charm to it 
which attracts and captivates the thoughtful 
heart. The same error is committed with re- 
gard to life j and while sph-ituality and faith, 
with all their beauteous expressions and sub- 
lime affecting s3^mbols, have been effaced in- 
stead of increasing, proud and sensual men have 
forfeited the possession of the present good. 
The earth is infected by its inliabitants, and its 
joy is passed away. Observe the characters of 
tliose cantons of Switzerland where the Catho- 
lic religion is unfelt, and men are left in the 
presence of nature alone, without an object or 
a sound to recall the images of faith. What 
overpowering melancholy reigns in those val- 
leys, notwithstanding all that dressing, fatten- 
ing, harrowing, and distillation of tlie earth, in 
hopes of gain ! What a silence is there, ex- 
cepting when interrupted by the fall of the 
avalanches, the roar of torrents, and tlie eter- 
nal sighing of the winds ! What a moral blight 
has attended the political demarcation of the 
territory! There are indeed, here and there, 



434 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

some immense enterprises for the sake of profit 
and pleasm^e; some unsightly buildings, the 
fruit of careful speculations to afford luxury and 
ease to the distempered inhabitants of licen- 
tious cities, who come here in the summer sea- 
son, in hopes of enjoying some vague dream 
of Arcadian life, united with the solid advanta- 
ges of the Epicurean form ; but nowhere do we 
see the beautiful chapel or the venerable cross ; 
nowhere anything to realize a tender or sublime 
idea ; no sacred sentences, no devout image, 
to exalt men to the spirital life. You pass, as 
on the borders of those Berne Lakes, whole vil- 
lages without a church ; and upon the sloping 
lawns you can only hope to find some ruins of 
a convent, or the tower of some ancient church, 
which you will find converted into a barn or 
a magazine. Yet even amidst the devastated 
valleys, covered with sand and rocks and bare 
trunks of broken pines, ploughed up with rains, 
and burnt by the fire of summer's day, which 
now present that pale and horrid aspect of a 
fearful nakedness, the Catholic religion would 
have planted her peaceful and her beauteous 
trophies. That religion has left the stamp of 
her genius and the imperishable monument of 
lier faith in the deserts of the East, and on the 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 435 

wildest rocks of the Alps or Pyrenees ; amidst 
the lions under the fires of the tropic, as well 
as amidst the bears and icebergs of the pole. 
Where is there a garden of more rich and beau- 
tous variety, than in the very valleys surround- 
ing the tracks over which heresy has passed ? 
Even to the mere poetic soul, what a delight- 
ful accompaniment to the silent hymn of nature 
is that chiming of angelic bells which rises at 
evening and at noon, and at the sweet hour of 
prime, from all sides of a Catholic valley ? — 
bells that well may be termed of the angel, 
that are not rung, as in other lands, by base 
hands, through love of sordid gain, to celebrate 
some occasion of sensual joy, temporal and 
vain, soon to change to mourning as vain ; — 
but by pious hands, through the devout inten- 
tion of inspiring men with thoughts of prayer. 
How inspiring is it to hear the great bells of 
the abbey of Engleberg, at the fourth liour of 
the morning, awakening the echoes, amidst the 
rocks and eternal snows of Titlis, and piercing 
the vast forests of the surrounding Alp ! What 
consolation to the weary pilgrim, when, stop- 
ping to shelter from the storm under some 
covered bank which charity has erected by 
the mountain's side, he beholds, even there, 



436 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH. 

some poor prints, representing, in successive 
stages, the sacred passion of our Lord, and dic- 
tating some seraphic aspiration ! How sweet 
and cheering, — and, in a philosophic point 
of view, how important, — is all this, and how 
it cherishes and strengthens our young affec- 
tions! But as the swimmer in the blue flood 
of the arrowy Rhone sees the pale line of snow- 
fed waters issuing from the devastated bed of 
the Arve, and no sooner plies his right arm to 
be borne up that new channel, and enters its 
sullen wave, then instantly a sudden cold and 
deathlike chill strikes through his whole body ; 
so is the full glow of youthful devotion checked 
and chilled, when we pass from Sarnen to the 
Scheidek, or from Soleure and Freyburg to 
the shore of Leman Lake. 

Kenelm H. Digby, 
Mores Catholici ; or^ Ages of Faith. 



PROTESTANT TRANSLATIONS OF 
THE HOLY BIBLE 



How clear, limpid, and pure the streams are, 
that flow from, the Greek and Hebrew foun- 
tains, through the channel of Protestant pens, the 
reader may easily guess, without taking the pains 
of comparing them, from the testimonies they 
themselves bear of one another's translations. 

Zuinglius writes thus to Luther, concerning 
his corrupt translation : '' Thou corruptest the 
word of God, Luther : thou art seen to be a 
manifest and common corrupter and perverter 
of the Holy Scripture ; how much are we 
ashamed of thee, who have hitherto esteemed 
thee beyond all measure, and proved thee to be 
such a man!"^^) 

Luther's Dutch translation of the old Testa- 
ment, especially of Job and the Prophets, had 
its blemishes, says Keckerman, and those no 
small ones, ^^) neither are the blemishes in his 
New Testament to be accounted small ones; 



(1) Zuing. t. 2, ad Luth., lib. de S. 

(2) Keekerman, Syst. 8 ; Theol., lib. 2, p. i88 ; i St. John v. 7. 



438 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH. 

one of which is his omitting and wholly leaving 
out this text in St. John's Epistle : " There be 
three who give testimony in heaven : the Father, 
the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three 
are one/' Again, in Rom. iii. 28, he adds the 
word ^^ alone " to the text, saying: ''We 
account a man to be justified by faith alonej 
without the works of the law." Of which in- 
tolerable corruption being admonished, he per- 
sisted obstinate and wilful, saying, ^^ So I will, 
so I command ; let my will be instead of reason," 
etc. (^) Luther will have it so ; and at last thus 
concludes : " The word alone must remain in my 
New Testament ; although all the Papists run 
mad, they shall not take it from thence: it 
grieves me, that I did not add also those two 
other words, Omnibus et omnmm^ sine omnibus 
operibus omnium legunij without all works of 
all laws." 

Again, in requital to Zuinglius, Luther rejects 
the Zuinglian translations, terming them in mat- 
ter of divinity, " fools, asses, antichrists, de- 
ceivers," etc. ; (^^and, indeed, not without cause ; 
for what could be more deceitful and antichristian 
than, instead of our Saviour's words, " this is 



(1) To. v. Germ. fol. 141, 144. 

(2) See Zuing. Tom. 2, ad Luth. lib. de Sacr., fol. 388, 389. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED PONVERTS. 439 

my body," to translate, " this signifies my body," 
as Zuinglius did, to maintain bis figurative 
signification of the words, and cry down Christ's 
real pj^esence in the Blessed Sacrament ! 

When Froscheverus, the Zuinglian printer 
of Zurich, sent Luther a Bible translated by 
the divines there, he would not receive it : but 
as Hospinian and Lavatherus witness, sent it 
back and rejected it. ('^ 

The Tigurine translation was, in like manner, 
so distasteful to the other Protestants, '^ that 
the Elector of Saxony in great anger rejected 
it and placed Luther's translation in room there- 
of." (^) 

Beza reproves the translation set forth by 
(Ecolampadius, and the divines of Basle ; af- 
firming, ^' that the Basle translation is in many 
places wicked, and altogether differing from the 
mind of the Holy Ghost." 

Castalio's translation is also condemned by 
Beza, ^3) as being sacrilegious, wicked and eth- 
nical ; insomuch, that Castalio wrote a special 



(1) Hosp. Hist. Sacram. part. ult. fol. 183; Lavath. Hist. Sacram. 
i. 32. 

(2) Hospin. in Concord. Discord. foL 13. 

(3) In Respons. ad Defens. et Respoiis. Castal. in Test. 1556, in 
Preefat. et in Annot. in Mat. iii. et iv., Luc. ii. ; Act. viii. et x. ; i 
Cor. i. 



440 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

treatise in defence of it, in the preface of which 
he thus comphiins : '' Some reject our Latin and 
French translations of the Bible, not only as 
unlearned, but also as wicked, and differing in 
many places from the mind of tlie Holy Ghost." 

The learned Protestant, Molinoeus, affirms 
of Calvin's translation '' that Calvin in his har- 
mony makes the text of the Gospel to leap up 
and down; he uses violence to the letter of the 
Gospel ; and besides this, adds to the text." (^) 

And touching Beza's translation, which our 
Englisli especially follow, the same Molinoeus 
charges liim, that '^ he actually changes the 
text ; '' giving likewise several instances of his 
corruptions. Castalio also, ^'a learned Calvin- 
ist." as Osiander says, '^ and skilful in the 
tongues," reprehends Beza in a book wholly writ- 
ten against his corruptions ; and says further : 
^^I will not note all his errors, for that would 
require too large a volume." ^^) 

In short, Bucer and the Osianderians rise up 
asrainst Luther for his false translations ; Lu- 
ther against Munster ; Beza against Castalio, 
and Castalio against Beza; Calvin against Ser- 



(i) In sua Translat. Nov. Test. Part. 12, fol. II2. 
(2) In Test. Part. 20, 30, 40, 64, 66, 74, 79, et Part. 8, 13, 14, 
21, 23. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 441 

vetus ; Illyricus against both Calvin and Beza. ^^^ 
Staphylus and Emserus noted in Luther's Dutch 
translations, of the New Testament only, about 
one thousand four hundred heretical corrup- 
tions. (^) And thus far of the confessed corrup- 
tions in foreign Protestant translators. 

If you desire a character of our English Pro- 
testant versions, pray be pleased to take ifrfrom 
the words of these following Protestants ; some 
of the most zealous and precise of whom, in a 
certain treatise, entitled* '^A petition directed 
to his most excellent majesty, iCing James the 
First," complain '' that our translation of the 
Psalms, comprised in our Book of Common 
Prayer, doth, in addition, subtraction, and al- 
teration, differ fx^om the truth of the Hebrew 
in at least two hundred places." If two hun- 
dred corruptions were found in the Psalms only, 
and that by Protestants themselves, how many, 
think vou, miofht be found from the bescinninof 
of Genesis to the end of the Apocalypse, if ex- 
amined by an impartial and strict examination? 
And this they made the grounds of their scruple 
to make use of the Common Prayer; remaining 
doubtful, '' whether a man may with safe con- 

(i) In Defens. trans., p. 170. 

(2) See Lind. Dub. p. 84, 85,, 96, 98. 



442 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

science, subscribe thereto;" yea, they wrote 
and pubhshed a particular treatise, entitled, 
''A Defence of the Ministers Reasons for re 
fusal of Subscribing ;" the whole argument and 
scope thereof is only concerning mistrans- 
lating ; yea, the reader may see, in the begin- 
ning of the said book, the title of every chap- 
ter, twenty-six in all, pointing to the mistrans- 
lations there handled in particular. (^^ 

Mr. Carlisle avouches, ^Hhat the English 
translators have depraved the sense, obscured 
the truth, and deceived the ignorant : that in 
many places they distort the Scriptures from 
the right sense, and that they show themselves 
to love darkness more than light : falsehood 
more than truth." Which Doctor Reynolds 
objecting against the Church of England, Mr. 
Whitaker had no better answer \han to say : 
^^ Wliat Mr. Carlisle, with some others, has 
written against some places translated in our 
Bibles makes nothing to the purpose ; I have 
not said otherwise, but that some things may 
be amended.'^^) 

The ministers of Lincoln diocese could not 
forbear, in their great zeal, to signify to the king 



(1) Petition directed to his Majesty, p. 75, 76. 

(2) Whitaker's answer to Dr. Reynolds, p, 255. 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 443 

that the English translation of the Bible, ^^ is a 
translation that takes away from the text, that 
adds to the text, and that, sometimes, to the 
changing or obscm'ing of the meaning of the 
Holy Ghost," calling it yet fmther, " a transla- 
tion which is absurd and senseless, perverting, 
in many places, the meaning of the Holy 
Ghost." (I) 

For which cause, Protestants of tender con- 
sciences made great scruple of subscribing 
thereto : ^^How shall I," says Mr. Burges, '^ ap- 
prove under my hand, a translation which hath 
so many omissions, many additions, which 
sometimes obscures, sometimes perverts the 
sense ; being sometimes senseless, sometimes 
contrary 1 " (2) 

This great evil of corrupting the Scriptures 
being well considered by Mr. Broughton, one 
of the most zealous sort of Protestants, obliged 
him to write an epistle to the Lords of the 
Council, desiring them with all speed to pro- 
cure a new translation : '^ Because," says he, 
''that which is now in England is full of errors." (3) 



(i) See the abridgment, which the Ministers of Lincoln Diocese de- 
livered to his Majesty, p. ii, 12, 13. 

(2) Burges, apol. Sect. 6, and in Covel's answer to Burges, p. 93. 

(3) See the Triple Cord, p. 147. 



444 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH, 

And in his advertisements of corruptions, he 
tells the Bishops, '' that their public translation 
of Scriptures into English is such, that it per- 
verts the text of the Old Testament in eight 
hundred and forty eight places, and that it 
causes millions of millions to reject the New 
Testament, and run to eternal flames," a most 
dreadful sg^ying, certainly, for all those who are 
forced to receive such a translation for their 
only rule of faith. 

Thomas Ward, 
Errata of the Frotestant Bible. 



THE HAPPINESS OF A TRUE 
CHRISTIAN. 



By the compassionate wisdom of God, faith 
was made the appointed means of salvation, 
because it ojjposes at the same time sensuality 
and pride ; sensuality, inasmuch as it com- 
mands us to prefer the invisible and eternal to 
the visible and temporary ; and pride, which 
rises up against the humble knowledge of our 
own miser V, and also ag-ainst truths the mean- 
ing of which exceeds the comprehension of our 
understanding, which is as assuming as it is 
limited. 

Although the proofs of our lioly doctrines 
are so clear, that any understanding, not blind- 
ed by pride, can embrace them, yet God is 
willing to grant us the gift of faith, provided 
only we fervently seek for it, and fly unto Him 
for knowledge with an earnest love of truth, 
and endeavor to follow the precepts of His 
holy commandments ; the moral perfection of 
which even the understanding of the unbeliever 
must acknowledge. 



446 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

So does His Son promise, ^^ the Author and 
Finisher of our faith," who, when He dwelt 
among us in the flesh, thus spoke to the proud 
and sensual Jews: " My doctrine is not Mine, 
but His that sent Me. If any man will do the 
will of Him, he will know of the doctrine, 
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of 
Myself." (St. John vii. 16, 17.) 

After this declaration of the Son of God, who 
can dare object to religion, that it requires a 
blind faith ! 

It would not require a blind faith from us, 
even did it only demand the consideration of 
the interior and exterior proofs of its Divinity ; 
and these are : the Prophecies that were given 
at so early a period, and fulfilled in part after 
centuries, nay, after thousands of years ; those 
miracles which bring conviction, and which, 
to use the words of the greatest man of the 
18th century, ^' are for all men equally clear 
and equally numerous." ^ The rapid exten- 
sion of our holy religion, at a time when the 
world was buried in the deepest and most uni- 
versal corruption, which was brought on part- 
ly by proud and atheistical philosophers, and 

* Haller. r^ 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 447 

partly by a system of impure idolatry steeped 
in blood ; the rapid spread of the Gospel by 
twelve poor fishermen and publicans ; the 
innumerable martyrs who bore witness to it ; 
that mh'acle, now acting before our eyes, — 
foretold first by Moses, and then by the Son 
of God, — of the state and condition of the 
Jews, now scattered to the four winds of heav- 
en — whose continuance seems to hang on their 
Temple ; and their separation from other 
nations ; and after so many centuries, ever 
since the destruction of their Temple and city, 
the seed of theirs, being scattered over the 
globe, in spite of so man}^ persecutions and 
such powerful and renewed effbrts to root it 
up, still remains ! It remains, and even their 
unbelief and their continuance in a religion 
which cannot be practised, prove, in the clear- 
est manner, the Divinity of the Prophecies. 

Religion certainly requires that we should 
weigh and prove these powerful and clear 
proofs ; and great will be the responsibility of 
those who, influenced by sensuality or pride, 
neglect this examination and consideration ; 
but though so evident and convincing as they 
are, yet the Son of God invites us to more 
easy examination, so worthy both of His and 



448 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

our dignity ; for if we do the will of His Father, 
we shall then become, as He Himself hath 
promised, inwardly persuaded that His doc- 
trine is from God. 

Who is there, to whom this sacred duty of 
examination does not appear evident? What 
keeps us, then, from it"? The vain enjoyments 
which we expect from this transitory life, the 
pleasures of which are so uncertain, so deceit- 
ful, so void, and perishable besides ; whose 
sorrows are so comfortless for him that hopeth 
not in God ? Or do we expect some kind of 
consolation from those airy systems of our 
philosophers, which vanish away, one after the 
other, like the figures of a magic-lantern on 
the wall ? What weapons do these sophists 
furnish us with, out of their poor armory, 
against the passions of youtli ? against the 
gnawing cares of manhood ? against the afflic- 
tions of old age ? against the terrors of death ? 

For us, yes, even for us, not only for the re- 
bellious children of the Old Covenant, but for 
us, the rebellious children of the New Testa- 
ment, God hath spoken holy words by the 
mouth of the prophet Jeremias : ^' Be aston- 
ished, ye heavens, at this ; and ye gates 
thereof be very desolate, saith the Lord. For 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 449 

my people have done two evils : They have 
forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and 
have digged to themselves cisterns, broken 
cisterns that hold no water.'' (Jer. ii. 12, 13.) 

Let us listen, again, to our Saviour ; let us 
be on our guard, while it is time, agamst false 
doctrine, and follow, while we have time, the 
kind w^ords of His friendly invitation: ^^At 
that time Jesus answered, and said, I confess 
to Thee, O Father, I^ord of heaven and earth, 
because Thou liast hid these things from the 
wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them 
to little ones. Yea, Father ; for so hath it 
seemed good in Thy sight. All things are de- 
livered Me by My Father ; neither doth any 
one know the Father but the Son, and he to 
whom it shall please the Son to reveal Him. 
Come to Me, all you that labor, and are bur- 
dened, and I will refresh you. Take up My 
yoke upon you, and learn of Me, because I 
am meek and humble of heart ; and you will 
find rest for your souls. For m}^ yoke is 
sweet, and my burden light.'' (St. Matthew xi. 
25-30.) 

What the proud disciples of Zeno boasted of 
themselves — viz., that a stoic only was rich, 
was in health, was free, was might}^, was w^ise, 



450 CONQUEISTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

and hence, also, that he only was happy ; — this 
is true of a Christian alone ; for he is a gen- 
uine disciple of the Gospel. How can he help 
being rich, who desires nothing, because he 
knoweth that all which God gives him must 
be profitable to him ? How can he be other- 
wise than in good health, whom no disease 
disturbs ; who, in harmony with himself 
(which is true healthfulness), because in har- 
mony with the will of God, receives all out- 
ward sorrow and afflictions from His hand, not 
only with patience, but even with joy and 
thankfulness, as so many proofs of his Father's 
love, who wishes to prove and perfect him by 
sufferings I Why should he not be free, who, 
loosed from the bonds of his passions, not only 
adores the will of God, but also loves it, in all 
the events that befall him ? Why cannot he 
be mighty, who, because his will is one with 
the Almighty, participates, as it were, in om- 
nipotence? Why cannot he be wise, w^ho, 
being instructed by Wisdom itself, strives to 
comply with all His precepts, in thought, word, 
and work? Why should he not be happy, 
who, possessing these precious goods, considers 
them only as the pledges of still more, noble 
and endless blessings, which he is to enjoy for 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 451 

eternity? But what is still more consoling, 
he prizes these precious treasures, " the powers 
of the world to come," the graces which he re- 
ceives in time, and expects in eternity ; he 
prizes them not so highly on their own ac- 
count, as on account of the Dono)% whose 
love will eternally be his greatest bliss. 
Frederick- Leopold, Count von StolberG;, 

Divine Love. 



CONVERSION OF HUGH LAEMMER. 



I said before, that, during my stay at Leip- 
sic, the study of a question proposed for con- 
cursus exercised a powerful influence on my 
religious views, and that to it is to be attrib- 
uted my first step towards Catholicism. The 
subject chosen for tlie concursus of 1854, by 
the Leipsic Faculty of Theology, was the ex- 
position of the doctrine of Clement of Alexan- 
dria on the Word. This then)e made upon me 
a most vivid impression. At once, and with 
great joy, I resolved to become a candidate. I 
will now state the motives of this resolve. The 
conflicting theological systems which I had ob- 
served, both in books and in oral instructions, 
occasioned me extreme torture. I was too in- 
dependent to follow the example of so many 
others by attaching myself blindly to a party ; 
I w^ished to examine for mj^self the successive 
phases undergone by the Protestant principle, 
and, with full knowledge of the subject, to make 
my own selection. All those systems, whether 
confessional or non-confessional, could not sat- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 453 

isfy me long ; on the other hand, the distraction 
caused by philological and philosophical stud- 
ies could not give peace to my heart, which 
only in God could find an end to its unrest. 
Inqtiietum est cor nostrum^ donee requiescat in te. 
1 felt I must escape from the chaos of modern 
theology, and I most eagerly availed myself 
of this opportunity to draw from the spring of 
Christian antiquity. I procured a copy of 
Klotz's portable edition, and set myself to the 
study of my author. Pen in hand, I began 
my task by reading him through and tlirough 
before I took any account of what others had 
written about him. 

A new world opened on my sight as I read 
the earliest master of the Alexandrian Cate- 
chetical School — the teachers of Origen. What 
treasures lie hid in these three works, the JEx- 
hortatio ad Grcecos, tlie Pcedagogus, and the Stro- 
mata! The Exhortatio ad Grcecos is a master- 
piece of Christian controversy against Pagan- 
ism, considered in its popular mythology, its 
poetry, and its philosophy. The Poedagogus, 
written for catechumens, sets before them a 
magnificent portrait of the true and only Mas- 
ter — the eternal Word of the Father — who 
has created man to His own image ; who, though 



454 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

man had become of the earth, earjthly, yet en- 
ables him to attain to his heavenly destiny ; 
who, in fine, confides him to the maternal 5^et 
virginal love of the Church. Then came the 
eight books of the Strofuata, an unpretending 
mosaic, in which the loftiest problem.s of phil- 
osophy and theology are treated with great 
learning and rare penetration. These three 
books were, without doubt, connected together 
in the author's mind. The idea of the Word 
is the central point of Clement's entire demon- 
stration ; and in that idea we must seek the 
essential unity of his system. It is the Word 
which tenderly invites man ; which instructs 
him, which guides him to his end by leading 
him to see the things of God in their profund- 
ity ; and thus the idea of the Word embraces 
in one same circle all philosophy, dogmatic as 
well as moral. 

At length the decisive hour came, and the 
sun of grace had completed the work of my 
enlightenment. I decided to become a Catholic 
on the 14th of October, 1858, the feast of St. 
Theresa, whose powerful intercession strength- 
ened my weakness. I communicated my reso- 
lutions to the Minister of Worship, and to the 
Faculty of Theology of Berlin, and I requested 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 455 

my bishop — tlie Bishop, of Ermland — to receive 
me into the bosom of the Roman Catholic 
Church, in which, after long and painful strug- 
gles, I had at length recognized the depositary 
of truth, and the legitimate spouse of the Son 
of God ; thus would my heart be at peace. 
^' Glory and praise," said my letter, "to our 
Lord Jesus Christ, who has enabled me to sur- 
mount all obstacles, who has graciously beard 
my prayers, who has had pity on me, who has 
broken my chains, who has scattered the dark- 
ness that hung over me, who has shown me the 
path to the fold. Since conscientious investi- 
gations have proved to me the so-called Refor- 
mation of the Sixteenth century has but disfig- 
ured the type of the true Church of Jesus 
Christ, and that its principles, far from being 
salutary, are essentially destructive and the 
necessary cause of the effects which history 
has registered during three centuries — that the 
Protestant confessions and their apologists, in- 
instead of attacking the Church's genuine teach- 
ing, do but distort it to insure an easy victory ; 
since I am convinced that the Reformers had 
neither the duty nor the right to attempt a re- 
form apart from and against the head of the 
Church and the episcopate ; that the religious 



456 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

divisions of our age are caused by the refusal 
to submit to the Church and return to the cen- 
tre, whence we departed in the sixteen century ; 
since the historical development of the Church 
has been proved to me unbroken down to the 
present day ; since I have learned to justify 
and love her doctrine, her morality, and her 
worsliip; from the day on which the grace of 
God has permitted me to be convinced of these 
truths, my return to the Catholic Church has 
become a matter of necessity, and it is only by 
a pubhc confession of my faith that I can hope 
to regain tranquillity of conscience, that peace 
of heart which the world cannot give, nor yet, 
in spite of all its fraud and anger, can ever take 
away." 

Hugh L^mmer, 
Misericordias Domini : Ilistoire de ma Conver- 
sion an Catholicisme. 



CONVERSION OF THE REV. FATHER 
COUNT GREGORY SCHOUVALOFF. 



My mind still hesitated before the fundament- 
al truths of Christianity: I did not see, that, 
by refusing to admit them, I was denying all 
virtue, all morality, and was giving up the 
world to chance, that is to disorder. How 
justly, Lord, are we punished for our incredu- 
lity and blindness ; for Thou hast said : ^^ I 
have hardened his heart, I have smitten him 
with blindness." (Exodus x ) 

Yes, it is just ; and it is natural, that, when 
for many years we have obstinately kept our 
eyes shut to the light, they should -become so 
weakened, that any attempt to contemplate its 
brightness should dazzle and blind them. This 
is just, my God ! for Thou art justice and 
reason, too. The Truth was still too strong for 
the eyes of my soul, weakened by error and 
sin ; it was too fair, too dazzling, and must 
needs blind me ; but Thou hadst pity on me, 
for while Thou art Justice^ Thou art also Com- 



458 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

passion. Insensibly didst Thou strengthen 
my spiritual organs, and, holy Truth! 
Thou didst descend and make my soul Thy 
home. 

Nearly sixteen years have passed since the 
day I quitted the Greek Church, and nearly 
three years since that on which I bade an eter- 
nal adieu to the world. I have learned bv ex- 
perience. The dreams and illusions of youth 
have entirely disappeared. I am fifty-three, 
and have, therefore, arrived at that period of 
my life when one is more calculating ; when 
poetry has given place to reasoning ; when the 
mind is less hasty, the body more slothful ; 
when the real at last appears in all its naked- 
ness, usually so hideous and so sad. Yes, I 
have had experience and find the real to be 
beautiful. Traveller or pilgrim, arrived at the 
goal, at the summit of the mountain, at this sanc- 
tuary which I used to contemplate and desire 
from afar, I to-day gaze with serenity upon the 
deep valleys out-spread at my feet, and grad- 
ually fading into the distant mist. During 
seventeen years I have passed from truth to 
truth, from light to light, and found a resting- 
place in that religious life, on those blessed 
summits that rise above the regions of storms, 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 459 

and where my soul can bask in the rays of the 
eternal sun. To me the real is beauteous ; I 
want no more dreams; all my dreams are 
realized ; all my desires are fulfilled. Content 
with the present, hopmg better for the future, 
I do not sigh after the past. Thanks be to 
God for the happiness of which I feel myself 
unworthy ; and as I am gathering abundantly 
the fruits of autumn, I by no means regret 
the faded flowers of spring. 

And how should I not esteem myself happy ? 
I have been chosen from among millions of sep- 
arated Greeks to make one of that number, 
alas ! so small, of converted Russians, a num- 
ber which will, however, doubtless go on aug- 
menting ; for our Lord has said : There shall 
he one fold and one Shepherd, Yes, He has said 
this ; then, be not afraid, my dear brethren, 
you, who, like myself, have been touched and 
changed by the truth ; fear not, little flock, the 
reign of justice shall come for us also. We 
are the first fruits of that union which every 
Christian must desire, and which will be ac- 
complished. Do not fear ; our sorrows and 
our prayers will find favor before God — Russia 
will be Catholic. How happy ought I to be at 
being chosen to belong to one of those families, 



460 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

comparatively so few, whom God calls to fol- 
low the Evangelical comisels ? Alas ! when I 
compare my youth, so brilliant and vain, to 
my present modest and happy life ; when I 
compare what I felt in the assemblies and gay 
saloons of the world to what I feel in the calm 
of my little cell, oh ! how my soul rises in 
gratitude to God. What happiness is mine, 
when I compare my travels in Europe with the 
blessed journeys I have now to take ; when I 
think, that, instead of the Hussar uniform, of 
which I was so proud in my youth, I wear 
the austere garb of the Barnabites ; that, in- 
stead of assisting at the noisy feasts of the 
world, I take part in the festivals of our 
churches; and that the frivolous or guilty ban- 
quets of the past have given place to the daily 
banquet of the Eucharist. Oh, I repeat it, 
what happiness is mine ! Formerly I used to 
quaff deep draughts of the cup of pleasure, and 
was unhappy ; the world called me rich, but I 
was poor ; it accounted me free, but I felt my- 
self a slave ; but now that I have pronounced 
the three solemn vows which have nailed me 
to the Cross ; now that I possess nothing, and 
have sworn to renounce every wish and every 
pleasure, I have found riches, liberty, and hap- 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 461 

piness; riches in that fulness of holy feelings 
with which my heart overflows, and which lifts 
me tip and unites me with my God ; liberty in 
the conformity of my will to His ; finally, hap- 
piness in the surrender of pleasure, in the sacri- 
fice of the instincts of nature to the inspirations 
of grace, and in the tranquillity that flows from 
the inward, firm^ unshaken conviction of hav- 
ing done my duty. 

0, you, who pass judgment on religious vo- 
cations, and who permit yourselves to blame 
and condemn them, tell me, are you com- 
petent for this, and do you know all the rela- 
tions of a soul with its God ? Are you acquaint- 
ed with its wants, have you sounded its depths, 
its mysteries ? Do you know what grace re- 
quires of it ? No, you do not ; but you do not 
like monastic life, the resolve of this soul is not 
agreeable to you, and hence it is wrong. 

With what inconsiderateness you pass sen- 
tence ! Yes, I ask you, are you acquainted with 
the needs of the soul you condemn ? And if 
this soul, in the conviction that it is called of 
God, if it has long thought and prayed, if it has 
asked to be enlightened, and to undertake 
nothing against the Eternal Will, if, in fine, 
after having prayed, consulted, and waited, it 



462 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

has become convinced, in all the freedom of its 
reason, that its salvation is bound up in the 
realization of this great thought, will you not 
recall your first judgment ? 

What ! is a vocation something unheard 
of ? From the dawn of Christianity, have there 
not always been anchorites, monks, religious, 
and priests ? Have we not seen princes and 
princesses, kings and queens, exchange their 
royal robes for the rough frieze and coarse 
serge of the monk or nun? Does not the 
Church, the supreme tribunal of the world, 
from whose judgment there is no appeal, call 
our state a state of perfection f Does not the 
Gospel recommend to us voluntary chastity, 
poverty, and obedience ? Does not Jesus 
Christ urge us to abandon all and follow Him I 
Does not Saint Paul exalt the foolishness of 
the Cross ? Finally, the heart, does not the 
heart itself tell us at times that it is good to 
shun the world, to seek repose in solitude and 
good works? Alas ! are you no longer Chris- 
tians, or have you forgotten the language of 
your infancy I That I should be blamed for 
having become a Catholic I can understand : 
error must blame truth ; but that any one 
should be angry with a Catholic for having 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 463 

embraced a monastic life is, on the part of 
Christians, incomprehensible. 

The Reverend Father Count Gregory 
schouvaloff, 
My Conversion and Vocation. 



MISSIONARY TRIUMPHS OF THE 
CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



It is not, indeed, a new truth which the events 
of the last three centuries and the intimate 
union of God with the Church and her minis- 
try have taught the world, though perpetually 
confirmed by a new series of facts. A thou- 
sand years ago, our fathers were already pro- 
claiming it with admiration, for tliey detected 
on little evidence what has been announced 
to ourselves by greater. The first victories of 
the Church had hardly been gained, and pa- 
ganism was still a mighty power in the world, 
when St. Augustine was telling the faithful in 
Africa that the Christians of his age had this 
advantage over the disciples of St. Peter and 
St. Paul, that, whereas the latter could only look 
forward to the promised glories of the Bride 
of Christ, the former could already look hack to 
their partial fulfilment. Fifteen centuries 
have passed away since then, and each has 
only accumulated fresli evidence of the same 
truth. For what additional testimony are men 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 465 

waiting ? What fresh proof do they require 
of her indefectibiHty I What new snare can 
they devise for the Church, which she has not 
already broken ? What new adversary can 
they bring from tiie ends of the earth whom 
she has not already overcome I Perpetually 
assaulted, she has outlived every enemy, and 
though they have predicted, one after another, 
lier approaching end, she has chanted her de 
profandis over them all. ^' When we reflect," 
said the great English essayist, suggesting 
truths Avhich bore no fruit in his own soul, 
'^ on the tremendous assaults which she has 
survived, we find it difficult to conceive in 
wliat way she is to perish." What, indeed, is 
the history of the world, for well-nigh two 
thousand years, but the history of her combats 
and triumphs ? A.rian and Nestorian, Vandal 
nnd Donatist, Hun and Goth, Greek and Mos- 
lem, vainly leagued together against her- 
Every assault which could menace, at one 
time her faith, at another her existence, has 
only served to show, again and again, that 
^Svliosoever shall fall on this stone shall be 
broken." Vainly the enemy arrayed against 
her the hosts of northern barbarians, merciless 
and sanguinary as beasts of prey, trusting to 



466 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH; OR 

overwhelm by brute force what the subtle 
heresies of Greece, Egypt, or Syria had failed 
to undermine ; they came only to lay their 
spoils at her feet, and finished by adoring the 
Cross which they had been sent to destroy ! 
Vainly the armies of the false prophet blotted 
out the corrupt churches of the East, made 
Greece their prey, set up a throne in Byzanti- 
um, the metropolis of the Oriental schism ; for * 
these were the bounds beyond which they 
might not pass. From that hour, the Moslem, 
checked in mid-career by the invincible legions 
whom the Vicar of Christ had sent forth against 
him, understood that faith was more than a 
match for fanaticism, that Catholic unity was 
a more impenetrable barrier than human or 
satanical confederacv, and that it was time to 
sue for peace with a power which neither 
might nor artifice could hope to subdue, and 
with a Church whose supreme Pontiff* could 
predict, in the same breath and with equal con- 
fidence, the triumph of Rome and the captivity 
of Constantinople. In vain did the enemy, 
baffled in so many encounters, head the most 
formidable revolt against which she has ever 
contended ; for in the sixteenth century, in 
which the gates of hell were thrown wide open, 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 467 

and a legion of unclean spirits received permis- 
sion to make war upon her, in the very hour 
in wliich their loud cry of triumpli was heard 
in half the kingdoms of Europe, a new army of 
apostles came out of the sanctuary, clothed in 
the armor of God, and charged by Him to re- 
conquer at the same moment the apostate races 
of tlie Nortli, and to gatlier in the East and 
West, out of all nations and peoples, that vast 
company of new believers to wliom He resolved 
to transfer the inheritance w^hich the Swedes 
and Saxons, drunk with the enchanter's cup, 
were now casting away. 

Three centuries have elapsed since the con- 
flict began, and while tlie Sects have putrefied, 
filling the air with the odor of death, she has 
remained unmoved upon her eternal founda- 
tions; teachino- everywhere the same unalter- 
able faith ; '^ spreading everywhere,'^ as one of 
her enemies has told us, ^'the lio^ht of civiliza- 
tion," ''difi^using," as another has confessed, 
^' a sea of benefits," and '' savino- millions of 
souls," by a ministry so full of truth and pow- 
er, that even the most degraded races of the 
human family, — tlie xlnnamites, the Huron, and 
the Guarani, — have confessed that God was 
with her, and have found in her communion a 



468 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

light to tlieir feet, ^^tlie promise of tlie world 
that now is, and of that which is to come." 

What further evidence do we seek ? What 
sign can we ask or conceive of the presence 
and the power of God, which is not found in 
the long history of the Catholic Church ? 
There are, as St. Leo said in his generation, 
mysterious workings of Providence of which 
man cannot penetrate the secret plan; and 
there are more intelligible operations, clear as 
the lightning which shines out of heaven, 
which even a child can mark and interpret. 
Such have been the works of God by the 
Church. '' Non intelligimus judicanteni,^' said 
the same saint, ^' sed vidimus operantem,''^ This 
is the truth which has been our purpose to 
illustiate in these pages. Vidimus operantem ! 
We have seen Him, who knows how to dis- 
pense His own gifts, pouring out on all lands 
the most precious graces on one class, and 
constantly refusing them to every other. We 
have seen Him, when the enemy seemed about 
to triumph, summoning His apostles by the 
thousands, to declare in all the world the 
very message against which the apostate had 
closed his ears. We have seen Him, so openly 
has He wrought this work, send forth a new 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 469 

Paul or Barnabas, filled with their spii'it, and 
preaching their doctrine to every province of 
the earth, from the populous homes of the 
East, to the scattered tents of the savage in the 
distant West. And everywhere He has made 
the disciples worthy of such teachers. We 
have seen the w^eak become valiant, and the 
timid strong, so that they could smile at tor- 
ture and rejoice in death, because His grace 
was in their hearts, kindUng both the apostle's 
courage and the martyr's hope. We have seen 
Him in the cities of China and India, in the isl- 
ands of tlie Southern Ocean, and by the banks 
of the Plata and the Urugfuav, of the Mohawk, 
the Huron, and the Genesee ; the same myste- 
rious sacrifices by which nations live and king- 
doms are won to Christ, and which once crim- 
soned at the same liour the waters of the Rhone 
and the Tiber, of the Abana and the Orontes, 
and were off'ered for the same end in the streets 
of Lyons, Rome, and Jerusalem, and in the 
capitals of L3"dia, Pontus, and Syria. 

We have seen all these marvels, which are 
*' the work of the rio^ht hand of the Most Hig-h," 
renewed in our own da}", by our own brothers 
and kinsmen, still filled with the Holy Ghost 
as their fathers were, still accepting the same 



470 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

almost incredible sacrifices, and accomplishing 
the same Djvine victories. And while the 
emissaries of the sects, — salaried apostles of a 
mutilated Gospel, from which they have ex- 
cluded all which might disturb their repose or 
restrain their earthly appetites; to whom even 
Divine bounty refuses all but purely natural 
gifts, and deprives even these of their efficacy ; 
— are everywhere making Christianity a pro- 
verb, its cruel dissensions a by-word, and its 
ministers a jest among the heathen, the Church 
is still sending forth, as she did in the beginning, 
apostles upon whom God is never weary of 
lavishing a father's gifts, and of wliom He still 
lovingly proclaims : '' They shall know their 
seed nraong the gentiles and their offspring in 
the midst of peoples : All that shall see them 
shall know them, that these are tlie seed which 
the Lord hath blessed." 

Vidimus operantem! What our fathers saw 
we have seen, but with clearer evidence, and in 
a more dazzlingr- li^ht. The counsels of God 
are hidden, but his works are plain, and wrought 
for our instruction. They teach what they 
have ever taught. It is still in the Church that 
He lives and acts. AVe have seen that it is 
there He dwells. She is the sole sanctuary 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 471 

which He ilhiminates with His presence. She 
is still ^'the Bride adorned for the Bride- 
groom," '^ the City wliiclithe glory of God hath 
enlightened." ^ Search not for Him elsewhere, 
for He has shown in all lands, by signs which 
even pagans have understood, how vain the 
search would prove. As well might the fol- 
lowers of Moses have retm-ned to seek light in 
Egypt, over which Divine wrath had spread a 
supernatural darkness ; as wisely might the 
companions of Josufe have sought teachers 
among the Amorites, already devoted to de- 
struction, as Christians forsake the Church to find 
God m the midst of perishing sects, — Lutheran, 
Anglican, or Calvinist, — which He has aban- 
doned, from the first moment of their existence, 
to mutual hate and shameful disorder, and which 
have, at length, reached the final stage of cor- 
ruption, from which even Protestants recoil 
with dismay, while they cry out with a sor- 
row which conies too late : '' The days in which 
we live are ripe for great apostasy ! " 

On the eve of the conflict, of which so many 
voices herald the approach, and in which, 
though we may be sure only for a moment, 



* Apoc. xxi. 2, 23. 



472 CONQUESTS OF OUR HOLY FAITH ; OR 

Science is to be arrayed against Revelation ; at 
a moment of wbicli the gravity is apparent, 
even to men not easily interested in questions 
of the soul, and which seems to presage a still 
more rapid decomposition of the Protestant 
sects than that of which we have already traced 
the progress, it is more than ever evident that 
only one refuge remains for the human com- 
munities which have lost all power of resistance 
from within, and which appear, even to their 
own members, to be swaying to and fro in the 
first throes of a])proaching dissolution. They 
must choose between the Church and chaos, 
for they may soon have no other choice. 
Happy they who have already chosen, and 
chosen ario^ht. The winds may blow and the 
floods rage, but their house will stand, for it is 
built upon a rock. As to the rest, who have 
never known the Church, and seem to ask, be- 
fore the final catastrophe is upon them, for 
fresh proofs that she is indeed the true Spouse, 
the appointed ark of refuge, the '^ garden in- 
closed," which is watered by the river of life, — 
to them she addresses once more, it may be for 
the last time, her gentle expostulation. Calm 
and unmoved, sure of God and of herself, she 
will still save them, if tliev will consent to be 



TESTIMONIES OF DISTINGUISHED CONVERTS. 473 

saved. She bids them ponder her history and 
their own. She rehearses again, for their ad- 
monition, all which she has done among men, 
since the hour when the Son of God committed 
them to her charge, and chiefly what He has 
done in and by her during the last three cen- 
turies : all the nations she has begotten to Him, 
all the apostles she has nurtured, all the mar- 
tyrs she has blessed. She reminds them of 
tlieir own histoiy during the same period, full 
only of malediction both to themselves and to 
the heathen who had caught the infection from 
them ; and then comparing with it that heal- 
ing ministry of powder and love, upon which 
God has set visibly the seal of His accept- 
ance, using it in all lands for the salvation of 
His creatures and the manifestation of His own 
glory, she leaves judgment to Him, and only 
borrows words which He has put into her 
moutli, to say to those who still affect to 
doubt, — " If you believe not my words, believe 
the ivorks that I do.^^ 

T. W. M. Marshall, 

Christian Missions. 



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